AMS ACQUIRES CMOSIS, A LEADING SUPPLIER OF HIGH-END AREA SCAN AND MINIATURE MEDICAL IMAGE SENSORS

Acquisition expands ams’ optical sensor portfolio and market leadership with high-value solutions for machine vision, medical, photographic and scientific imaging at expected 2015 revenues of approx. EUR 60m

Unterpremstaetten, Austria (20 November 2015) – ams (SIX: AMS), a leading worldwide provider of high-performance sensor and analog solutions, has entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS, a leader in advanced area and line scan CMOS image sensors for high-end imaging applications, in an all-cash transaction.

Under the terms of the agreement, ams will acquire 100% of the shares in CMOSIS from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm, and management shareholders for an equity value of approx. EUR 220m. ams expects to fund the transaction from existing cash and available credit lines with no additional transaction-based financing. The transaction is expected to close within the next six weeks subject to certain regulatory approvals and the occurrence of certain conditions defined in the agreements with the sellers of the CMOSIS shares.

“Acquiring CMOSIS is a highly complementary expansion of our sensor portfolio and another major step in executing our sensor solutions growth strategy. This transaction extends our market leadership in optical sensors and will strengthen our position as the leading pure-play sensor solutions provider for growth markets including Industry 4.0, IoT (Internet of Things) and medical diagnostics. Integrating cameras with advanced optical sensors will drive new sensor solutions across vertical markets and accelerate our growth plans as we combine CMOSIS’ leading edge IP and design capabilities with our manufacturing competence and optical sensor strengths”, emphasizes Kirk Laney, CEO of ams.

“CMOSIS has built a leading position in some of the most challenging imaging applications based on our deep technology expertise in CMOS area and line scan image sensors. Our team is at the forefront of global shutter technology for high-end imaging having up to more than 15 years of experience in this field. We are excited to join ams creating a leader in advanced imaging solutions. We will leverage ams’ technical and operational expertise and profit from the global access to potential new customers to realize our full growth potential”, adds Luc de Mey, CEO of CMOSIS.