Austin Ventures to Acquire Staktek Corporation.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 11, 2003 Austin Ventures LP and Staktek Corporation today announced a definitive agreement in which Austin Ventures will acquire Staktek Corporation in a transaction that is expected to close by the end of August 2003. Financial terms were undisclosed. "We are extremely excited about our investment in Staktek, given its strong track record of growth and profitability, exceptional customer base, and outstanding management team. Those factors, along with its strength in the memory solutions market, position the company to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. a number of opportunities in the semiconductor sector," said Joe Aragona, a General Partner of Austin Ventures. Clark Jernigan, a Principal of Austin Ventures who, along with Aragona, will join Staktek's board of directors, added, "Since its founding in 1990, Staktek has repeatedly shown its ability to parlay An open programming interface (API) to a service provider's network (the network operator), developed by the Parlay Group (www.parlay.org). By enabling the customer's application to talk directly to the network, it allows the end user to have greater access to network information as well core technology innovation, manufacturing process know-how and business model agility into a highly differentiated and market leading services offering for the top tier server vendors and their supply chains. We believe Staktek is very well positioned to capitalize upon and help drive future memory density technologies, and we look forward to being their partners in taking the company to the next level of financial success." Staktek Corporation is a pioneer in the design of memory stacking technologies and has been providing reliable high performance solutions to large systems vendors for over 13 years. Its Performance StakPak(R) product is the preferred choice for the highest memory configurations at the five largest server OEMs and is increasingly finding its way into other high-density memory applications, such as intelligent core routers A router that resides within the middle or backbone of the network rather than at its periphery. The routers that make up the backbone of the Internet are core routers. See edge router and WAN router. and high capacity storage systems. "This transaction is excellent news for Staktek's customers and employees," said Jim Cady, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Staktek. "In addition to realizing value for Staktek's current shareholders, the company gains an outstanding partner with whom we can continue to successfully pursue our business strategies. Austin Ventures has financed a large number of Austin's high tech success stories and has a solid track record of helping management create value in their portfolio companies." In addition to funds provided by Austin Ventures, senior debt financing Debt Financing When a firm raises money for working capital or capital expenditures by selling bonds, bills, or notes to individual and/or institutional investors. In return for lending the money, the individuals or institutions become creditors and receive a promise to repay is being provided by Comerica Bank and Guaranty As a verb, to agree to be responsible for the payment of another's debt or the performance of another's duty, liability, or obligation if that person does not perform as he or she is legally obligated to do; to assume the responsibility of a guarantor; to warrant. Bank. "The Staktek deal is significant for several reasons," said Aragona. "While the market for private equity remains highly selective, it hasn't vanished as some have suggested. Austin Ventures has funded over 15 new seed and early stage technology and service companies in the last 18 months and several more projects will be announced shortly. In addition, we are actively evaluating other later stage growth opportunities that exhibit the qualities of Staktek -- namely seasoned management teams with a history of execution in large and growing markets. While other sources of private capital have retreated in this last cycle, AV has over $600MM available to continue our 20-year strategy of teaming with the best entrepreneurs in Texas." Aragona added, "By teaming with our local partners Comerica and Guaranty, the Staktek investment shows that all the resources necessary to finance growth opportunities are available from within this region." About Staktek Corporation Staktek Corporation is the leading provider of proprietary, high-density stacked memory solutions for original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs"), silicon manufacturers, memory module manufacturers and contract manufacturers. Staktek's products support the rapid growth of electronic commerce and internet-centric applications by enabling a dramatic increase in the performance of servers, workstations, high-end computing platforms See platform. and packet switching A network technology that breaks up a message into small packets for transmission. Unlike circuit switching, which requires the establishment of a dedicated point-to-point connection, each packet in a packet-switched network contains a destination address. networks (routers). Staktek's high-density stacking solutions provide for increased performance through doubling or quadrupling quad·ru·ple adj. 1. Consisting of four parts or members. 2. Four times as much in size, strength, number, or amount. 3. Music Having four beats to the measure. n. of memory in the same physical footprint as the base components. Staktek currently has 59 patents covering its technology with an additional 11 patent applications pending. Staktek and its licensee licensee n. a person given a license by government or under private agreement. (See: license, licensor) LICENSEE. One to whom a license has been given. 1 M. Q. & S. 699 n. Samsung grew their combined share of the high-density memory market to 74% in 2002 according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. market size estimates from De Dios Associates. Staktek is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. , incorporated under the laws of the State of Texas in June 1990. Staktek is headquartered in Austin, Texas and currently has over 400 employees at its two manufacturing locations in Austin, Texas and Reynosa, Mexico. About Austin Ventures Austin Ventures has been working with talented entrepreneurs to build valuable companies since 1979. With $2.4 billion under management, AV is the most active venture capital firm in Texas, and one of the most established in the nation. With a focus on enterprise software, computer and communications hardware, and business services, Austin Ventures invests at all stages of company development, from $100,000 "planned experiments" to $50+ million investments in management buyouts Management buyout (MBO) Leveraged buyout whereby the acquiring group is led by the firm's management. management buyout See going private. . |
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