News in brief: Anadigics, Bookham, Cierra, CEO
The Board of Directors of Anadigics has approved a measure to reduce the company s issued stock options as a percentage of total options and shares outstanding from 20 percent to 15 percent.
Reuters news agency quoted John Warren, VP for worldwide human resources at Anadigics, as saying, "Right now probably 90 percent or more of the stock options are under water. We can t afford to lose our talent and we need to make sure there are some long-term hooks for our employees so we retain them."
The measure is a voluntary employee stock option exchange program which allows company employees and officers who hold options with exercise prices above $10.00 to exchange three options for one new stock option priced at fair market value six months and one day after their existing options are cancelled.
The issued stock options to employees and officers of the company available for exchange under the program represent 3,050,644 shares or approximately 7.4% of the total common shares outstanding. The measure is expected to return 2,033,763 options back to the company, which represents approximately 5 percent of the total options and shares currently outstanding.
Bookham Technology acquires Cierra Photonics
Bookham Technology has entered into an agreement to acquire substantially all of the business and assets of Cierra Photonics, a company based in Santa Rosa, California, employing approximately 39 people.
Cierra Photonics designs and manufactures thin-film filters and other components for the fiber-optic telecommunications industry. The company’s Advanced Energetic Deposition (AED) technology is a specialised process for wafer-scale deposition of extremely well-controlled films.
Bookham will issue 3,071,484 new ordinary shares to Cierra, valued at approximately £2.25 million ($3.68 million) based on the closing price on July 3, 2003. A potential further 4,200,000 shares in Bookham Technology could be issued to Cierra, dependent on certain targets being achieved.
Cutting Edge Optronics earns ISO 9001:2000 certification
Cutting Edge Optronics, Inc. (CEO), a business unit of Northrop Grumman Corporation s Space Technology sector, has achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification, signifying that its quality management standards meet rigorous industry requirements.
CEO designs and manufactures high-power, diode-pumped solid-state lasers and laser diodes and arrays for scientific, industrial and medical applications, and is located in St. Charles, Missouri.
The ISO 9001:2000 standard, released in December 2000 as the successor to ISO 9000:1994, is an internationally recognized quality management system developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Certification was verified by British Standards Institute, Inc. (BSI), a quality management systems registrar for the ISO.
