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IONICS BUYS SEMICONDUCTOR FILTER PROCESS
8/21/02
5:38 PM
Page 13
September 2002
for 30 consecutive trading days. Envirogen’s stock must now close at US$1 per share or more for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days before 27 January 2003 for the company to continue its listing. If this condition is not met, Nasdaq will determine if Envirogen meets the initial listing criteria to determine if the company merits a further 180calendar-day grace period. Alternatively, Nasdaq may notify Envirogen that it will be delisted subject to appeal. Envirogen’s shares hit a 52week low of US$0.70 per share on 25 July 2002. Its share price closed at US$0.86 as this issue went to press.
AQUA CARE RECEIVES DAF LICENCE Aqua Care Systems Inc has obtained from Industrial Waste Water Services LLC (IWWS) a licence to market and manufacture dissolved air flotation (DAF) wastewater treatment systems. The licence will give Aqua Care access to award-winning wastewater treatment technology and allow the company to expand its product offerings. Aqua Care will initially target the industrial laundry and food processing industries with the IWWS system. In both industries, IWWS consistently meets or exceeds sewer discharge limits, says Aqua Care. The technology has won various awards including one for a poultry further processing plant in Gainsville, Georgia where full discharge compliance was achieved without using any form of biological treatment. In one industrial laundry operation, Aqua Care claims that IWWS met all discharge limits, while reducing chemical costs to US$1.30 per thousand gallons of treated water. The laundry achieved 50% water reuse, saving 22 000 gallons of water per day.
Filtration Industry Analyst
Scott Heffner, Aqua Care’s president, said that Aqua Care had wanted to add DAF technology to its product mix and IWWS was looking for a company that could expand its market reach. “We will combine Aqua Care’s extensive sales network with the IWWS DAF technology to quickly grow sales in industrial laundry and food processing wastewater treatment,” he added.
MILLIPORE BUYS MEDIA SUPPLIER Millipore Corp has acquired the assets of its New Jersey based chromatographic media supplier CPG Inc. CPG has provided Millipore with the base material for its Prosep-A High Capacity Chromatographic Media for several years. The acquisition includes the intellectual property and physical assets of CPG. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Susan Vogt, president of Millipore’s Biopharmaceutical Division, said that the acquisition of CPG was strategic in terms of manufacturing. “It ensures a secure supply of a key component of our best-selling chromatographic media. It also gives us technology and know-how to continue to build on our Prosep media platform and expand the range of purification solutions we bring to our customers.”
US COMPANIES CERTIFY ACCOUNTING ACCURACY Senior executives at a number of US companies with filter manufacturing interests have filed sworn statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), certifying the accuracy of their recent financial filings. ArvinMeritor, Baker Hughes, Cummins, The Dow
Chemical Company, ITT Industries, Parker Hannifin, Praxair and SPX have all submitted written oaths attesting to the accuracy of their respective companies’ financial statements filed with the SEC in 2002. The companies are responding to an SEC order issued in June 2002 for the chief executives and chief financial officers of 947 publicly traded US companies, with reported annual revenues in excess of US$1.2 billion, to personally certify the accuracy of their most recent financial statements. Officers who make false certifications will face personal liability. The order is intended to assure the investing public and the SEC that the corporate disclosure in reports already filed this year is in compliance with federal securities laws. Pall Corp’s statement is due on 1 November 2002.
IONICS BUYS SEMICONDUCTOR FILTER PROCESS Ionics Inc has acquired the business and assets of the EnChem wastewater treatment process from Microbar Inc, including patents and know-how. EnChem incorporates a proprietary polymer that selectively filters both dissolved and suspended contaminants from semiconductor manufacturing processes such as chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), fluorinated chemistries or copper interconnects. The EnChem technology has a minimal footprint, and Ionics believes that it provides semiconductor clients with lower total cost-of-ownership than traditional methods of wastewater treatment and disposal. Arthur Goldstein, Ionics’ chairman and CEO, said that the EnChem wastewater treatment technology would help Ionics to more effectively meet its semiconductor clients’ total water management needs and environmental goals.
IN BRIEF • McLeod Russel Holdings plc has reached an agreement to sell Henley Park, the group’s 183 acre industrial site located in Guildford, UK, to a property developer for £6.1 million. Henley Park was bought as part of the Vokes acquisition in February 2000. McLeod Russel’s liquid filtration business will remain on part of the site under a short-term lease for at least two years. The company will share in any upside achieved from improved planning consents within a period of up to 10 years from completion. McLeod Russel has also completed the disposal of its two remaining former surface coatings sites in Derby and Manchester for a total of £1.4 million. • Pall Corp has closed the sale of US$280 million of 6% 10year unsecured senior notes in a private placement. The net proceeds of the offering will be applied towards the repayment of borrowings under a US$360 million interim credit facility that was used to finance the acquisition of USFilter’s Filtration and Separations Group in April 2002. • BGF Industries Inc and its senior lenders have executed a forbearance agreement with respect to breaches of certain financial covenants under BGF’s senior credit facility. The senior lenders had issued a payment blockage notice prohibiting BGF from making a required interest payment. This was later rescinded, allowing BGF to make the payment. The forebearance agreement is effective until 31 March 2003. The company has engaged Realization Services Inc as its financial advisor to explore strategic alternatives including, but not limited to, the capital restructuring of the company.
13
NEWS/IN BRIEF
FIASept.qxd
5:38 PM
Page 13
September 2002
for 30 consecutive trading days. Envirogen’s stock must now close at US$1 per share or more for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days before 27 January 2003 for the company to continue its listing. If this condition is not met, Nasdaq will determine if Envirogen meets the initial listing criteria to determine if the company merits a further 180calendar-day grace period. Alternatively, Nasdaq may notify Envirogen that it will be delisted subject to appeal. Envirogen’s shares hit a 52week low of US$0.70 per share on 25 July 2002. Its share price closed at US$0.86 as this issue went to press.
AQUA CARE RECEIVES DAF LICENCE Aqua Care Systems Inc has obtained from Industrial Waste Water Services LLC (IWWS) a licence to market and manufacture dissolved air flotation (DAF) wastewater treatment systems. The licence will give Aqua Care access to award-winning wastewater treatment technology and allow the company to expand its product offerings. Aqua Care will initially target the industrial laundry and food processing industries with the IWWS system. In both industries, IWWS consistently meets or exceeds sewer discharge limits, says Aqua Care. The technology has won various awards including one for a poultry further processing plant in Gainsville, Georgia where full discharge compliance was achieved without using any form of biological treatment. In one industrial laundry operation, Aqua Care claims that IWWS met all discharge limits, while reducing chemical costs to US$1.30 per thousand gallons of treated water. The laundry achieved 50% water reuse, saving 22 000 gallons of water per day.
Filtration Industry Analyst
Scott Heffner, Aqua Care’s president, said that Aqua Care had wanted to add DAF technology to its product mix and IWWS was looking for a company that could expand its market reach. “We will combine Aqua Care’s extensive sales network with the IWWS DAF technology to quickly grow sales in industrial laundry and food processing wastewater treatment,” he added.
MILLIPORE BUYS MEDIA SUPPLIER Millipore Corp has acquired the assets of its New Jersey based chromatographic media supplier CPG Inc. CPG has provided Millipore with the base material for its Prosep-A High Capacity Chromatographic Media for several years. The acquisition includes the intellectual property and physical assets of CPG. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Susan Vogt, president of Millipore’s Biopharmaceutical Division, said that the acquisition of CPG was strategic in terms of manufacturing. “It ensures a secure supply of a key component of our best-selling chromatographic media. It also gives us technology and know-how to continue to build on our Prosep media platform and expand the range of purification solutions we bring to our customers.”
US COMPANIES CERTIFY ACCOUNTING ACCURACY Senior executives at a number of US companies with filter manufacturing interests have filed sworn statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), certifying the accuracy of their recent financial filings. ArvinMeritor, Baker Hughes, Cummins, The Dow
Chemical Company, ITT Industries, Parker Hannifin, Praxair and SPX have all submitted written oaths attesting to the accuracy of their respective companies’ financial statements filed with the SEC in 2002. The companies are responding to an SEC order issued in June 2002 for the chief executives and chief financial officers of 947 publicly traded US companies, with reported annual revenues in excess of US$1.2 billion, to personally certify the accuracy of their most recent financial statements. Officers who make false certifications will face personal liability. The order is intended to assure the investing public and the SEC that the corporate disclosure in reports already filed this year is in compliance with federal securities laws. Pall Corp’s statement is due on 1 November 2002.
IONICS BUYS SEMICONDUCTOR FILTER PROCESS Ionics Inc has acquired the business and assets of the EnChem wastewater treatment process from Microbar Inc, including patents and know-how. EnChem incorporates a proprietary polymer that selectively filters both dissolved and suspended contaminants from semiconductor manufacturing processes such as chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), fluorinated chemistries or copper interconnects. The EnChem technology has a minimal footprint, and Ionics believes that it provides semiconductor clients with lower total cost-of-ownership than traditional methods of wastewater treatment and disposal. Arthur Goldstein, Ionics’ chairman and CEO, said that the EnChem wastewater treatment technology would help Ionics to more effectively meet its semiconductor clients’ total water management needs and environmental goals.
IN BRIEF • McLeod Russel Holdings plc has reached an agreement to sell Henley Park, the group’s 183 acre industrial site located in Guildford, UK, to a property developer for £6.1 million. Henley Park was bought as part of the Vokes acquisition in February 2000. McLeod Russel’s liquid filtration business will remain on part of the site under a short-term lease for at least two years. The company will share in any upside achieved from improved planning consents within a period of up to 10 years from completion. McLeod Russel has also completed the disposal of its two remaining former surface coatings sites in Derby and Manchester for a total of £1.4 million. • Pall Corp has closed the sale of US$280 million of 6% 10year unsecured senior notes in a private placement. The net proceeds of the offering will be applied towards the repayment of borrowings under a US$360 million interim credit facility that was used to finance the acquisition of USFilter’s Filtration and Separations Group in April 2002. • BGF Industries Inc and its senior lenders have executed a forbearance agreement with respect to breaches of certain financial covenants under BGF’s senior credit facility. The senior lenders had issued a payment blockage notice prohibiting BGF from making a required interest payment. This was later rescinded, allowing BGF to make the payment. The forebearance agreement is effective until 31 March 2003. The company has engaged Realization Services Inc as its financial advisor to explore strategic alternatives including, but not limited to, the capital restructuring of the company.
13
NEWS/IN BRIEF
FIASept.qxd