Ceradyne Inc. (CRDN) is a developer and manufacturer of advanced technical ceramic products and components for defense, industrial, automotive, nuclear, electronic and medical markets. The company, based in Costa Mesa, California, has operating divisions in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In 2004, the company added new product lines and new markets by acquiring ESK Ceramics of Kempten, Germany.

Ceradyne recently completed the acquisition of SemEquip, Inc., located in North Billerica, Massachusetts. SemEquip is a developer of cluster ion implantation sub-systems and advanced ion source materials for the manufacture of logic and memory chips. The company has significant intellectual property assets, including a patent portfolio of over 100 granted and pending patents related to the use of cluster chemicals in semiconductor ion implantation.

The purchase price consists of $25M in cash paid at closing, plus contingent consideration not to exceed $100M over the next 15 years based on SemEquip revenues achieved during that period. Ceradyne used a portion of its existing cash for the payment made at closing. A portion of the consideration paid at closing and the contingent consideration to be paid over 15 years relates to a pre-closing commitment by SemEquip to pay incentive compensation to several of its employees and advisors.

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