Business briefs

20 Jun 2003

Including news from Cree, GSI Lumonics, RSoft, XenICs, Jenoptik and more.

•  Former Cree CEO Eric Hunter and his wife Jocelyn have filed a lawsuit against Cree’s current CEO Neal Hunter and the company. Eric Hunter, who is Neal brother, and his wife are trying to recover damages in excess of USD 3 billion for unspecified harm resulting from the alleged conduct of the defendants, as well as an injunction against future harassment. In a statement from Cree, the company said it believes that the allegations are without merit and arise in part from personal and family matters. Cree said it intends to defend the case vigorously.

•  GSI Lumonics is holding a special meeting of its shareholders on July 24. At the meeting, the materials processing giant will ask its shareholders to approve a plan to restructure the company as a publicly-traded US-domiciled corporation. The company’s corporate headquarters are currently in Ontario, Canada.

•  XenICs, a Belgian developer of infrared image sensors based on InGaAs technology, has won EURO 1.5 million in second round venture capital funding. The company says the cash will allow it to fully deploy an international sales network and establish international partnerships.

•  US-based Alpine Research Optics (ARO), a maker of OEM laser optics, is constructing a new 35 000 sq. ft. facility at its headquarters in Boulder, Colorado. “This expansion will enable us to continue growing our optical polishing and coating business, as well as provide space for our developing optomechanical assembly enterprise,” said ARO’s president David Collier.

•  RSoft, a US maker of optical software, has announced that Alps Telecommunication Software (ATS) will distribute its system-level and network-level tools across Europe, with the exception of France. The two companies have also agreed to collaborate on future development of RSoft’s system-level packages.

•  Hommelwerke, a subsidiary of Jenoptik which makes both contact and non-contact optical measuring technology, has acquired fellow German firm IBP Messtechnik. IBP specializes in developing quality-control systems for use in motor development and production.

•  Schott Lithotec of Germany has teamed up with Veeco Instruments of the US to develop advanced photomask technology and study particle reduction for next generation photomask blanks.

Schott Lithotec has also signed a European sales and marketing agreement with US-based M Cubed Technologies. The German company becomes the exclusive European distributor of M Cubed’s advanced composite materials and products, which are used in the lithography and semiconductor industries.