4 November 2003 Sunnyvale, CA Lightwave-- Alliance Fiber Optic Products (AFOP), a supplier of fiberoptic components, subsystems and integrated modules announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Ritek's Photonics Division, which is located in Hsin Chu Industrial Park, Taiwan.
Under the terms of the agreement, AFOP will acquire substantially all of the assets of Ritek's Photonics business and assume certain liabilities in exchange for up to 1.7 million shares of AFOP common stock. AFOP may utilize Ritek's photonics manufacturing facility in Hsin Chu Industrial Park, Taiwan, for a period of two years at no additional cost. In addition, Ritek will provide AFOP $1.5 million cash as part of this agreement. The deal is expected to be completed in December 2003 and is subject to various closing conditions.
Peter Chang, president and chief executive officer of AFOP, commented, "Ritek's photonics business, which includes planar lightwave circuit technologies, fiber array technologies, active devices, and DWDM and related technologies, will be an excellent complement to our existing product lines. Additionally, their manufacturing base and packaging technology gives us added expertise in the areas we believe to be strategically important. With Ritek's established products and customer base for the emerging access and FTTX [fiber-to-the-x] markets, we believe this acquisition will enable AFOP to strengthen its base of business in Japan and the rest of Asia, which we believe have attractive long-term growth potential."
Founded in 1995, AFOP's products are used by communications equipment manufacturers to deliver optical networking systems to the long-haul, enterprise, metropolitan and last mile access segments of the communications network. AFOP offers a broad product line of passive optical components including interconnect systems, couplers and splitters, thin film DWDM components and modules, fixed and variable optical attenuators, and depolarizers. AFOP is headquartered in Sunnyvale, CA, with manufacturing and product development capabilities in the United States, Taiwan and China.
Founded in 1988, Ritek offers products for optical disks, display components, photonics, and electronic storage. Ritek is headquartered in Hsin-Chu Industrial Park, Taiwan, with manufacturing and product development capabilities in Taiwan and China. Ritek is a public company listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and