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Superconductor Technologies, Conductus combine forces for wireless
John Walko CommsDesign
Oct 11, 2002 (3:17 AM)
URL: http://www.mwee.com/16505961

Santa Barbara, Calif. — Two of the pioneers in developing superconductor technologies for wireless and defence markets, Conductus and Superconductor Technologies are combining in what is described as a merger.

The new company will retain the name of Superconductor Technologies Inc. and will remain headquartered in Santa Barbara. Conductus will become a subsidiary of STI located in Sunnyvale.

The combined group will receive a $15-million investment through a private placement, led by Alloy Ventures, once the merger is completed.

Under the terms of the agreement, Conductus shareholderswill receive 0.6 shares of newly issued STI common stock for each outstanding share of Conductus common stock.

"We look forward to combining the strengths of the two organizations, and consolidating our commercial product lines based on the SuperFilter platform," commented M Peter Thomas, president and CEO of STI.

"We will also continue to grow the high-performance product business for government applications that is already in place at Conductus", Thomas added.

He noted that between them, the two companies have made enormous progress in driving the acceptance of superconductor technologies in the wireless business.

"STI will have the best in cryogenic cooling technology, filter design, wafer fabrication technology, back end assembly and testing, production, marketing, sales and service. The combined company will be a much stronger force within the telecommunications equipment sector, and will be well positioned to benefit from the industry's recovery, which we believe will begin sometime next year," Thomas said in a statement.

The companies stressed users of the ClearSite devices and technology will be fully supported while transitioning to the Superlink Rx range. Current and prospective Conductus customers will be introduced to the SuperFilter and SuperLink Rx product lines immediately

They also said the combined group will achieve significant savings through synergies in sales and marketing, R&D and product development, and administrative activities. However, they would not comment on the number of redundancies that are likely to result from the merger.

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