Radiant Photonics Inc. has retained Equity Partners Inc. to seek an equity investor, joint venture partne, or purchaser of the company or portions of the company. The company, a developer of optical network components and a provider of wafer-bumping fabrication services, has been operating under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection since November.
The company is in the final stages of developing an optical switch and variable optical attenuator, which will serve both as its first product offering and as the basic building block for the company's future product integration strategy. The company also provides a wafer-bumping fabrication service and is the only North American merchant provider of turnkey end-to-end wafer bumping services, it claims.
Located in Austin, TX, Radiant Photonics operates a 28,000-sq-ft, ISO 9001-certified wafer bumping facility that includes a 5,000-sq-ft Class 100 cleanroom and 10,000-sq-ft Class 10,000 cleanroom with more than $5 million in fixed assets. The company also owns numerous patents and trademarks.
"The company had raised $18 million in round A funding from four investment capital firms," explains Terry Markwardt, president and CEO. "On September 7, 2001, we had a term sheet from these existing investors for an additional $5-million investment that was to carry the company forward and allow completion of the development of our initial photonic component products and expand our wafer bumping business. After the very tragic events on September 11, all investors pulled out. Subsequently, the company downsized and filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on November 1."
On January 2, the Bankruptcy court approved the hiring of Equity Partners Inc. by Radiant Photonics. According to Stuart Safft, Partner at Equity Partners, "In just these few short weeks we have already found a number of firms potentially interested in investing in or purchasing all or portions of Radiant Photonics. We are currently distributing Information Books, scheduling and conducting site visits, and initiating discussions of offers." Safft indicated that he expects this process to move to completion quite rapidly.
Equity Partners specializes in working with chapter 11 and other financially distressed manufacturing companies to find investors, partners, or buyers for the company.