FREMONT, California, August 27, 2007 -- Exar Corporation (NASDAQ: EXAR) today announced that it has closed the previously announced merger of a wholly owned subsidiary of Exar with Sipex Corporation, effective August 25, 2007. As a result of the merger, the former stockholders of Sipex are entitled to receive 0.6679 of a share of Exar common stock in exchange for each share of Sipex common stock they hold. Ralph Schmitt is now serving as Exar's president and chief executive officer, and Mr. Schmitt and two additional former Sipex directors have joined Exar's Board.
"The closing of the Sipex transaction on August 25, 2007 is one of the most significant milestones in Exar's long history," said Ralph Schmitt, president and chief executive officer of Exar Corporation. "We firmly believe that the capabilities of the combined enterprise provide the foundation for an expanded, robust product portfolio as well as accelerated revenue growth. I am excited by the possibilities before our organization and honored to have the opportunity to lead our efforts to deliver enhanced value to our constituents. In this regard, I welcome the continuing support of our employees and stockholders," stated Mr. Schmitt.
"This combination will give us the scale to be an industry force in connectivity solutions, while also allowing us to target new synergistic growth opportunities in the Power, Networking and Storage markets," said Ralph Schmitt. "The two companies have complementary technologies which will enable the combination to pursue significant high growth opportunities. The stockholders, employees and customers will benefit from the synergies and enhanced growth that are anticipated to result from a larger, more competitive organization."
"Our focus will be on driving a culture of accountability and execution," explains Ralph Schmitt. "Together, the companies will have the technical ability and talent to have leading product solutions. Our strengthened sales, marketing and applications team will enable us to more effectively address our focus markets. We also expect to benefit from the combination of each company's well aligned, industry-leading channel partners."
About Exar
Leveraging a robust portfolio of analog, mixed-signal, and digital technologies, Exar Corporation is Powering Connectivity with system-level semiconductors that connect and network people. This technology is used in a wide array of synergistic solutions ranging from serial interface, to power management, to multi-functional framers/mappers for end product applications addressing point-of-sale, hand-held devices and highly complex network transmission systems. The Company has locations worldwide to support the communications, consumer, industrial and storage markets. Exar is based in Fremont, California. For more information about Exar visit: http://www.exar.com.
About Sipex
Sipex Corporation is an analog semiconductor company that addresses standard linear and application specific standard products (ASSP) for customer systems that are primarily targeted at the consumer, networking and industrial markets. The products are categorized into three synergistic areas of power management, interface and optical storage. Sipex is a global company with operations in Asia, Europe and North America. Sipex is based in Milpitas, California. For more information about Sipex visit the website at http://www.sipex.com/.