Cree Completes Acquisition of Nitres, Inc.
Nitres, Inc. Becomes Cree Lighting Company
Durham, NC. Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announced today that is has completed its acquisition of Nitres, Inc., a leader in the research and development of nitride-based semiconductor devices. Cree acquired all of the outstanding vested Nitres stock for approximately 1.5 million shares of Cree common stock. Cree also issued approximately 350,000 shares of unvested Cree common stock in exchange for unvested Nitres shares and reserved approximately 150,000 shares of common stock for outstanding Nitres options and warrants assumed by Cree in the transaction. The acquisition of Nitres complements Cree s silicon carbide (SiC) device manufacturing process and is expected to enable the development of new solid state light engines for commercial applications.
Neal Hunter, chairman and chief executive officer, stated, "The acquisition of Nitres, with its demonstrated performance and expertise in high brightness nitride LEDs, combined with Cree s low-cost platform, should enable Cree to become the premier provider of high efficiency, low cost LEDs."
The transaction will be accounted for as a pooling of interests. With the completion of the acquisition, the corporate name of Nitres, Inc. has been changed to Cree Lighting Company. The company will continue its operations as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cree, Inc.
North Carolina based Cree, Inc. is the world leader in development and manufacturing semiconductor materials and electronic devices made from silicon carbide. The company uses proprietary technology to make enabling compound semiconductors such as blue and green LEDs, SiC crystals used in the production of unique gemstones and SiC wafers that are sold for device production and research. Cree has new product initiatives based on expertise in SiC, including radio frequency and microwave transistors for use in wireless infrastructure and radar, blue laser diodes for optical storage applications and high power devices for power conditioning and switching. For more information on Cree visit the company s website at http://www.cree.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results could differ materially due to a number of factors, including the ability of the combined businesses to be integrated with Cree s current operations, the ability to continue Nitres research and development successfully, the ability to commercialize products, the costs of commercialization and production efforts, the actual costs of combining the businesses and other factors discussed in Cree s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 27, 1999, subsequent quarterly reports and the registration statement on Form S-3 dated January 3, 2000.
Contact:
Fran Barsky, Investor Relations Manager of Cree, Inc.
Tel: 919-313-5397 or fax: 919-313-5452
Fran Barsky, Investor Relations Manager of Cree, Inc.
Tel: 919-313-5397 or fax: 919-313-5452
Web site: http://www.cree.com
