Oxford Instruments Sells MBE Business to Riber SA

Oxford Instruments said it has sold the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) business operated by subsidiary Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology to Riber SA (Bezons, France). MBE has accounted for <$2M in annual revenues in recent years.

Staff -- Semiconductor International, 9/23/2008 8:33:00 AM

Oxford Instruments plc (Oxford, UK) said it has sold the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) business of Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology Ltd. (OIPT, Bristol, UK) to Riber SA (Bezons, France).

Riber develops and manufactures MBE tools, effusion cells and dedicated RF sources. The sale comes after Oxford Instruments announced a long-term plan to improve earnings at OIPT and to focus efforts on certain product lines. In April, it purchased Technologies and Devices International (Silver Spring, Md.), gaining access to TDI’s hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) technology used to manufacture high-brightness light-emitting diode (LEDs), power ICs and other products.

Oxford Instruments said the acquisition by Riber will “strongly reinforce Riber’s share of the MBE market” and enable the French company to service ~75% of the worldwide installed base, which has increased from ~500 to ~800 units in recent years.

The British company said, “Over recent years, the average turnover of this purchased activity was above 1.2 million euros [$1.7M].”