BILTHOVEN, The Netherlands, July 5, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- ASM International N.V. (Nasdaq:ASMI) (AEX:ASM) announced that it has reached agreement with Canadian Imperial Holding Inc ("CIHI") for extension of its equity line agreement, which was initially entered into on July 6, 2000 for a term of two years. The other terms and conditions of the agreement remained materially unchanged.
Under the equity line ASM International can decide to issue and sell to Canadian Imperial Holding Inc., up to U.S. $65.0 million in the aggregate of common shares over the term of the agreement, which now expires on July 6, 2003, with intervals of at least five business days between two issuances in amounts not exceeding U.S. $10.0 million per issuance. CIHI is obligated to purchase the shares at 95.5 percent of the average trading price during the five trading days before the sale.
ASM International has filed a registration statement on July 3, 2002 with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Until this registration statement is declared effective by the SEC, ASM International is not yet able to issue common shares under the equity line agreement with CIHI.
About ASM
ASM International N.V. based in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, is a global company servicing one of the most important and demanding industries in the world. The Company possesses a strong technology base, stateoftheart manufacturing facilities, a competent and qualified workforce and a highly trained, strategically distributed support network. ASM International and its subsidiaries design and manufacture equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. ASM International and its subsidiaries provide production solutions for wafer processing (frontend segment) as well as assembly and packaging (backend segment) through facilities in the United States, Europe, Japan and Asia. ASM International's common stock trades on Nasdaq (symbol ASMI) and the Euronext Amsterdam Stock Exchange (symbol ASM). For more information, visit ASMI's website at http://www.asm.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All matters discussed in this statement, except for any historical data, are forwardlooking statements. Forwardlooking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forwardlooking statements. These include, but are not limited to, economic conditions and trends in the semiconductor industry, currency fluctuations, the timing of significant orders, market acceptance of new products, competitive factors, litigation involving intellectual property, shareholder and other issues, commercial and economic disruption due to terrorist activity, armed conflict or political instability and other risks indicated in the company's filings from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the company's report on Form 20F and Form 6K as filed.