Avanex to Acquire Alcatel's and Corning's Optical Components Divisions

Avanex will acquire Alcatel's and Corning's optical components businesses in combined transactions valued at approximately $63.5 million. The deal brings together the optical businesses of three of the industry's leading providers of optical components, modules and subsystems for fiber optic transmission networks. After the mergers, the new Avanex would offer products that address optical wavelength generation and modulation, multiplexing and demultiplexing, signal amplification, wavelength routing and dispersion compensation. Alcatel and Corning will assign approximately 1,400 patents to Avanex and additionally license several thousand patents to Avanex as part of the transaction. In return, Alcatel and Corning will receive as consideration 28% and 17% respectively of Avanex's outstanding common stock of the post-transaction company.


Alcatel will contribute its key optical component operations in France and the UK. Alcatel's optical component division had sales of EUR 7.3 million for Q1 2003. The division has 950 employees. Key products include lasers, photodetectors, optical amplifiers, transponders and key passive devices such as arrayed waveguide gratings and Fiber Bragg grating filters. As part of the deal, Alcatel would also contribute over $110 million in cash and Avanex will be designated a key supplier to Alcatel for a 3 year period.


Assets to be purchased from Corning include optical amplifier, dispersion compensation, and micro optics operations located in New York and Corning modulator operations located in Italy. These businesses have 490 employees. Key products include optical amplifiers, dispersion compensation modules, Lithium Niobate and electro-absorptive modulators, and micro optics products. Quarterly sales amounted to approximately $11 million in Q1 2003.


The new Avanex expects to have over $250 million in cash and 1,600 employees on the closing date.
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