Asecos WED Purchase

08/01/1997

Aseco`s WED purchase

Shortly after its $6 million acquisition of Western Equipment Development (WED), Aseco Corp., of Marlboro, MA, has said that it will expand the operations of its new wafer-handling equipment manufacturing subsidiary. Work has already begun to expand WED operations, according to Sebastian Sicari, Aseco vice president and CFO. The move is being driven by the debut of a new high-speed sorter, which was introduced last month at SEMICON/West.

Currently, WED operates out of a 20,000-square-foot facility in Plymouth, in southwest England. Investment figures for the expansion plans were not released, but Sicari did note that the company is working with a business development authority in England to secure funding for the expansion and for further product development. In the past, WED has been eligible for funding from the development authority.

Under the acquisition, which was finalized last week after two years of discussions, Aseco will retain the WED name for its new subsidiary. For the year ending April 30, the privately held WED had sales of $5.5 million. The deal gives Aseco a lead into the front-equipment sector, an estimated $1.5 billion market, and is part of the test handling equipment supplier`s long-term goal of broadening its presence in automated handling and processing equipment.