Date: Mar 12, 2012 Author: Patricia Resende Source:
Spire Corp. (NASDAQ: SPIR), a developer of solar photovoltaic equipment and systems and biomedical processing services, has completed the sale of Hudson, N.H.-based Spire Semiconductor.
The Bedford-based company sold its foundry services business to Masimo Semiconductor Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Masimo Corp., for $8.5 million, the company announced today.
Sale of the semiconductor unit’s assets included $8 million plus the assumption of $500,000 in liabilities, with the cash portion of the purchase price being reduced by retained cash and liabilities assumed by Masimo in excess of $500,000. At closing, Spire received $7.2 million in cash and Masimo assumed $1.2 million in liabilities. ThinkEquity LLC served as exclusive financial adviser to Spire.
The sale to one of its largest customers will enable Spire to put more focus on its solar and biomedical businesses , Spire Chairman and CEO Roger G. Little, said in a release. Masimo plans to use the assets from its Spire acquisition to increase its efforts in its non-invasive blood monitoring products.
Spire Semiconductor claimed achievement of the world efficiency record for a concentrator photovoltaic solar cell in 2010 when it said the cell was measured by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory to have a peak efficiency of 42.3 percent.
