CFIUS approves sale of Aixtron’s ALD/CVD memory product line to South Korea’s Eugene Technology

Deposition equipment maker Aixtron SE of Herzogenrath, near Aachen, Germany says that the investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) of the sale of its atomic layer deposition (ALD) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) memory product line – based at its US subsidiary Aixtron Inc in Sunnyvale, CA, USA – to Eugene Technology Inc (announced in late May) has resulted in a determination that there are no unresolved US national security concerns from CFIUS’ perspective. Eugene Technology Inc is a US subsidiary of South Korea-based Eugene Technology Co Ltd (which makes single-wafer ALD, CVD and plasma deposition and surface treatment systems).

As a consequence, CFIUS has approved the transaction. Aixtron now expects the transaction to be closed in 2017.

In May, the firm said that Aixtron Inc would continue to provide sales and support for its continued businesses, and to pursue its thin-film encapsulation (TFE) activities. The agreed purchase price of $45-55m (to be paid in cash) includes inventory and other pre-paid assets, the value of which (due to ongoing business) is to be determined at the time of closing.

Previously, in December 2016, following advice from CFIUS, US President Barack Obama issued an executive order prohibiting the acquisition of Aixtron’s US business Aixtron Inc by Grand Chip Investment GmbH (GCI, a German limited liability company set up as a special-purpose investment vehicle by China-based Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP). Subsequently, the sale of the overall firm Aixtron SE to GCI (announced in May 2016) was abandoned.