Business briefs
17 Jun 2002
Including news from TRW, GSI Lumonics, Lucent, Agere, JDS Uniphase and more.
The board of directors of defense technology giant
TRW has said that
Northrop Grumman's exchange offer of USD 53 per share is financially inadequate. Northrop had previously offered USD 47 per share. A special meeting of shareholders will be held on May 3 where shareholders are being urged to vote against Northrop's proposal.
Laser systems manufacturer
GSI Lumonics of Canada has posted first quarter sales of USD 36.9 million, a 13% decrease from the USD 42.4 million announced for the previous quarter. New orders in the first quarter rose to USD 43 million compared with USD 35 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2001.
Announcing a modest USD 50 million increase in quarterly revenues,
Lucent also said that it has met all of the financial conditions to complete the spinoff of
Agere Systems. All shares in Agere will be distributed to Lucent common shareholders on June 1. Lucent chief executive officer Patricia Russo said: "It is in the best interest of Lucent and Agere shareholders that Agere be an independent company."
US-based
T-Networks has won USD 30.6 million in series B funding. A developer of indium phosphide optoelectronic devices, the company will use the cash to achieve revenue generation and volume shipments by the second half of 2002.
JDS Uniphase is set to purchase
Scion Photonics, a provider of photonic solutions based on planar lightwave circuit manufacturing. Already a minor shareholder of Scion, JDS will pay USD 43 million in cash to complete the acquisition, which is expected to close shortly.
MIT spinoff
OmniGuide Communications, US, a developer of hollow-core photonic bandgap optical fibers and components, has closed its series B financing round on USD 10.5 million. New investors are
Alliance Technology Ventures and
3i.
