July 22, 2005 — San Francisco-based BEI Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: BEIQ) and Schneider Electric SA (Euronext: SCHN) reached a definitive agreement for Schneider Electric to acquire all of the outstanding shares of BEI for $35 per share in cash, the companies announced today. The transaction values BEI at approximately $562 million, including net financial debt of approximately $29 million, and has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.
BEI manufactures MEMS-based sensors for the automotive and defense industries as well as motors and motion-controlled products. Its Systron Donner Inertial Division entered into a five-year agreement in June with Thales Aerospace of France for the supply of QRS11 quartz rate sensors.
Schneider Electric, a French manufacturer of equipment for electrical distribution and industrial control equipment, has been building up its MEMS components business. In 2004 it acquired Kavlico, which makes sensors and transducers, from Solectron.