IPG share price soars after IPO debut
After IPG Photonics (Oxford, MA) announced the pricing of its initial public offering (IPO) of 9 million shares of common stock at $16.50 per share (see www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/279683), Reuters reported later in the day that IPG shares rose as much as 56 percent to $25.70 as investors were attracted by its revenue growth and increased applications for its products. The IPG shares are quoted on the Nasdaq Market under the symbol IPGP. IPG sold 6.2 million shares, while selling stockholders, including Valentin Gapontsev, chairman and CEO, and other board members, sold about 2.8 million shares.
Alcatel-Lucent finalizes merger
Lucent Technologies (Murray Hill, NJ)and Alcatel (Paris, France) announced the completion of their merger transaction. The new company Alcatel-Lucent is incorporated in France, with executive offices located in Paris; its stock will be traded on Euronext Paris and the New York Stock Exchange under a new common ticker (ALU).
“Through this merger, we are bringing together two top-ranking companies to form an undisputed leader in the industry,” said Patricia Russo, appointed as CEO of Alcatel-Lucent. “Alcatel-Lucent is a strong and enduring ally that service providers, governments and enterprises can count on to help them unlock new market and revenue opportunities. Both Alcatel and Lucent embraced a common culture of innovation and excellence that will help ensure the success of our merger.”
JDSU reports positive first-quarter earnings
Optical products and communications test-and-measurement provider JDSU (Milpitas, CA) announced positive results for its fiscal 2007 first quarter. On a non-GAAP EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) basis, the company earned $9.6 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006. “The achievement of positive earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis for the first time in more than five years marks another significant milestone on the company’s journey to sustained profitability,” said Kevin Kennedy, CEO .
LSI to buy Agere for $4 billion
In a new combined company to be called LSI Logic, LSI Logic (www.lsilogic.com) and Agere Systems (www.agere.com) have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will be combined in an all-stock transaction with an equity value of approximately $4.0 billion. According to the companies, LSI’s well-established presence in the storage and consumer electronics markets and Agere’s broad footprint in storage, mobility, and networking should enable them to drive sustainable long-term growth and shareholder value through the strengthening of its combined platforms and the expansion of its existing customer relationships.
Luxtera awarded DARPA transceiver grant
CMOS photonics maker Luxtera (Carlsbad, CA) has been awarded the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Electronic and Photonic Integrated Circuits (EPIC) Phase II contract based on successful completion of Phase 1 of the project, which resulted in the world’s first 40 Gbit/s dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) single CMOS-chip transceiver. Phase II of the project will result in a 40 Gbit/s transceiver offering improved performance, smaller size, and lower power than demonstrated in Phase I. The transceiver will also be designed so that it can scale to a 100 Gbit/s transceiver.
NeoPhotonics expands DWDM product line
NeoPhotonics (San Jose, CA) acquired Paxera (Santa Clara, CA) as part a significant expansion of its product line for reconfigurable dense-wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) high-capacity optical networks. Paxera’s ultra-widely tunable lasers are expected to enhance NeoPhotonics’ existing broad line of network products.
Also in the news . . .
The IEEE 802.3 Higher Speed Study Group is evaluating 20 Gbit/s 1310 nm lasers used in a five-channel coarse wavelength-division multiplexing (CWDM) configuration and 25 Gbit/s lasers in a four-channel configuration from Apogee Photonics (Allentown, PA) for future 100-gigabit Ethernet applications. . . . Opnext (Eatontown, NJ), an optical-networking subsidiary of Hitachi, hopes to raise $150 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of stock, according to a prospectus filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. . . . Redfern Integrated Optics (Santa Clara, CA), developer and manufacturer of optical transmitters for the data and telecommunications markets, has secured an additional $7 million for continued development of silicon integrated-photonics products. . . . Phoenix Contact and Siemens have selected Avago Technologies (San Jose, CA, and Singapore) Fast Ethernet optical transceivers with digital diagnostic monitoring interface for future industrial networking applications.