ADE Corp. Shares Surge After KLA-Tencor Offers to Pay for Company in Cash Instead of Stock
NEW YORK -- Shares of ADE Corp. soared in afternoon trading on Monday after KLA-Tencor Corp., a semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker, said it would buy ADE in cash, instead of stock, as previously announced. Under the new terms of the deal, KLA-Tencor will buy ADE, a supplier of metrology and inspection systems used to make semiconductor wafers, for $32.50 in cash per ADE share. Under the previous agreement, announced in February, KLA-Tencor agreed to buy ADE in a stock-for-stock transaction, valued at roughly $488 million. Since the deal was announced, KLA-Tencor shares have been dragged through the mud amid an investigation into the company's stock option grants. KLA-Tencor is one of at least a dozen companies being reviewed for possible illegal backdating of stock option grants, whereby grants were issued with low strike prices to increase the value of the options. The stock fallen more than 20 percent since the acquisition was announced in February when the stock closed at $51.93. The transaction is still expected to close in the third quarter. Shares of ADE Corp., which have traded between $19.96 and $34.60 over the last year, were up $6.27, or 24 percent, at $32.22 on the Nasdaq. KLA-Tencor shares also traded up, albeit much more modestly, at $40.90, up 28 cents on the Nasdaq. |
