FREMONT, Calif., August 22, 2003. Avanex has entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation's Optical Systems
Division located in San Jose, Calif. Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will acquire substantially all of the assets of Vitesse's Optical Systems Division in exchange for approximately 1.2 million shares of Avanex common stock. Based on the closing price of Avanex's stock on August 19, 2003, the transaction has a value of approximately $6 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Avanex will also buy up to $2 million in products from Vitesse over the next three years. The completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
Walter Alessandrini, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Avanex, noted, "The acquisition of this business will enhance our already strong presence in transponders and expand our customer traction in subsystem products. Avanex will have a competitive cost structure by leveraging the world-class component capabilities we acquired this year from Alcatel and Corning. In addition, through our future relationship with Vitesse, a leader in high speed communication integrated circuits, we believe that Avanex will have a significant advantage in developing intelligent solutions that integrate optics, electronics, firmware and software."
Avanex is a provider of Intelligent Photonic Solutions to meet the needs of fiber optic communications networks for greater capacity, longer distance transmissions, improved connectivity, higher speeds and lower costs. These solutions enable or enhance optical wavelength multiplexing, dispersion management, switching and routing, transmission, amplification and monitoring and include network managed subsystems.
Avanex was incorporated in 1997 and is headquartered in Fremont, Calif. Avanex also maintains facilities in Erwin Park, N.Y.; Livingston, U.K.; Nozay, France; and San Donato, Italy. The facilities also are home to Avanex's Centers of Excellence for specialized research and manufacturing.
To learn more about Avanex, visit www.avanex.com .
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