CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., and ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., 20 March 2006. GE Fanuc Embedded Systems, a unit of General Electric Company, has agreed to acquire SBS Technologies, a designer of open architecture embedded computer products that enable original equipment manufacturers to serve commercial, communication, and government customers. Pursuant to the transaction, SBS Technologies shareholders will receive $16.50 per share payable in cash, for a total consideration of approximately $215 million, net of SBS Technologies' cash and equivalents.
The combination of SBS Technologies and GE Fanuc Embedded Systems will create an organization that offers a line of products ranging from embedded boards in multiple form factors, bus architectures, and fabrics to fully integrated systems available in a range of environmental grades. SBS Technologies is headquartered in Albuquerque, N.M., with locations in Minnesota, Massachusetts, California, North Carolina, Germany, Canada, and China.
"SBS Technologies is more than an acquisition for GE Fanuc Embedded Systems, it is a great strategic fit," says Maryrose Sylvester, president and chief executive officer of GE Fanuc. "The combination of the two companies will provide depth and breadth in crucial product areas primed for growth. We are very excited about this acquisition and we believe the combined entity will be in a position to serve a variety of customers including those interested in communications, medical imaging, industrial automation, and military systems."
SBS Technologies designs and builds computer boards and systems for products such as robots, aircraft, spacecraft and unmanned vehicles. The company's products include single board computers, communications and networking modules, and complete systems.
SBS products are designed to open standards such as CompactPCI (CPCI), VMEbus (VME), PCI, PCI-Express, PMC, PC/104, AdvancedMC, and AdvancedTCA. SBS Technologies' single board computers are based on Intel architecture, PowerPC, and FPGA processors.
"This transaction will benefit both SBS Technologies' customers and GE Fanuc Embedded Systems' customers," says Clarence Peckham, chief executive officer of SBS Technologies. The combination "will be able to take us farther in the future than either of our two companies could go working alone."
SBS Technologies also has a large presence in Europe and Asia, adding to the team GE Fanuc Embedded Systems has in place in those regions. The combined entity will have approximately 900 employees worldwide, 250 of whom are engineers.
Under the terms of the agreement, GE Fanuc Embedded Systems will acquire all of the issued and outstanding Common Shares of SBS Technologies. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals, the approval of SBS Technologies' shareholders, and other customary conditions, is anticipated to close in the third quarter of 2006.
More information on SBS is available at www.sbs.com. For more information on GE Fanuc, visit www.gefanuc.com/embedded.
