ANDOVER, Mass., May 23, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MKS Instruments, Inc. (Nasdaq:MKSI), has been informed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston that an employee from its Shanghai, China subsidiary has been arrested as part of a U.S. government investigation into violations of U.S. law, including providing false information to obtain U.S. export licenses for certain MKS pressure transducers.
MKS is cooperating with the investigation and U.S. government authorities have made it clear that MKS is not a target of the investigation.
MKS is conducting its own investigation into these matters and the individual's suspected violation of corporate policies.
While MKS does not expect any of the alleged violations to have a material adverse effect upon its business, the disruption caused by this matter could adversely affect its Shanghai sales office.
In fiscal 2011, MKS Shanghai sales of export-licensed products represented approximately 1.2% of total MKS revenue. MKS Shanghai total revenue for all products accounted for approximately 2.5% and 7.9% of total MKS revenue for the first quarter of 2012 and fiscal year 2011, respectively.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains projections or other forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27 of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act regarding MKS' future growth and the future financial performance of MKS. These projections or statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those in the projections or other forward-looking statements set forth herein. Among the important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those in the projections or other forward-looking statements are the inability of the Company to predict the outcome of the governmental or internal investigations, which could include the identification of other violations, and fines, penalties, restrictions on export activities or other governmental actions.