Dec. 9, 2002 – San Jose, CA – Novellus Systems Inc. has closed its acquisition of SpeedFam-IPEC Inc., a global supplier of CMP systems used in the fabrication of advanced copper interconnects.

The acquisition was approved by a vote of SpeedFam-IPEC’s shareholders, held on December 5. As a result of the acquisition, the SpeedFam-IPEC ticker symbol will be removed from NASDAQ listing.

In the transaction, Novellus acquired all outstanding shares of SpeedFam-IPEC in a stock-for-stock merger. Each share of SpeedFam-IPEC common stock outstanding was converted into 0.1818 of a share of Novellus common stock on a fixed-exchange ratio basis, and all outstanding options to purchase shares of SpeedFam-IPEC capital stock were automatically converted into options to purchase approximately 1,144,527 shares of Novellus common stock. Novellus has also assumed all $115 million of SpeedFam-IPEC’s convertible debentures.