Complete Privitization of Thesys -- Contracts Signed Between the Free State of Thuringia and Elex N.V., Belgium.

ERFURT, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1999--

Today a contract was concluded between ELEX N.V., Tessenderlo, Belgium, and the State of Thuringia concerning the sale of shares in Thesys Gesellschaft fur Mikroelektronik mbH, Erfurt.

This contract can come into force in July 1999 after confirmation by the responsible committees.

Andreas Trautvetter, finance minister for the Free State of Thuringia, explained: "with this contract, the Free State of Thuringia has succeeded in fully privitizing the Thesys Gesellschaft fur Mikroelektronik mbH shortly after buying the shares back from Austria Mikro Systeme International AG (AMS), Unterpremstatten, Austria. The Free State of Thuringia will continue to support and promote the South-East Erfurt microelectronics location within the bounds of its capabilities." -0-

ELEX N.V. intends to:

--   continue and further develop the Thesys spheres of activity:
     COT/foundry (with associated chip factory), ASICs and ASSPs (with
     associated design center and testing) as well as technical
     services, and merge them with the corresponding companies in the
     ELEX Group

--   found a German-based limited liability company in Erfurt by
     converting Thesys, through which the COT/foundry business and the
     chip factories of the ELEX Group will be managed

--   Thesys' ASIC/ASSP business segment will be continued and expanded
     as a subsidiary company of the ELEX subsidiary Melexis with
     headquarters in Erfurt

--   when there is a need for a new chip factory, which can be
     expected in the period between 2002 and 2004, a new chip factory
     will be set up with the technological standard of 0.25um/0.18um,
     depending upon market requirements and the results of the
     location evaluation, while at the same time implementing the
     `flexible fab' concept at the Erfurt location

--   to retain all the jobs at Thesys and the ELEX subsidiary X-FAB
     Gesellschaft zur Produktion von Wafern mbH Erfurt, depending upon
     market conditions

--   to invest around 50 million Euros in the areas of development,
     manufacture and testing at the Erfurt location between the years
     2000 and 2003.

-0-

Roland Duchatelet, president, Elex N.V. declared: "In the future, there will not be any more IC manufacturers with a single factory. Only `fab-less' IC manufacturers, pure foundry enterprises and very large IC manufacturers with many factories will be able to survive. This is because the investment needed for new wafer factories has been increasing continually.

"The future of Thesys will be secured by the `product part' becoming a `fab-less' company which will be working closely with Melexis, one of the world's fastest-growing semiconductor firms (+58% in 1998). The Thesys factory will become apart of a pure foundry enterprise through the merger with XFAB, one of the few foundry enterprises in Europe, which was founded in 1992. By taking over the Thesys factory, this foundry enterprise will expand its total capacity 900 wafers to 1,200 6-inch wafers per day, spread over three factories."

Elex N.V. is a holding company with its headquarters in Tessenderlo, Belgium, which holds the majority of shares in the firm Melexis Microelectronic Integrated Systems N.V., 100% of the shares in the firms X-FAB Erfurt and X-FAB Texas, as well as shares in other companies in the semiconductor sector.

Melexis Microelectronic Integrated Systems N.V. is a stock exchange-quoted company (EASDAQ:MLXS) with its headquarters in Ieper, Belgium. It has achieved strong growth in the business sectors of ASICs, sensor chips, sensor interface IC, embedded controllers and their integration for automotive environments and non-contact identification systems over the last few years. In 1998, it achieved a turnover of around 32 million Euros with 100 employees.

X-FAB is a SILICON WAFER FOUNDRY for CMOS and special technologies for sensors and smart-power applications. It produces chips on silicon wafers according to the customers' designs. There are production works trading under the name X-FAB in Erfurt, Germany and Lubbock, Texas. The X-FAB Gesellschaft zur Fertigung von Wafern mbH was founded in 1992 with headquarters in Erfurt, Germany and certified in accordance with ISO 9001. In 1998, it achieved a turnover of 17.6 million Euros in Erfurt alone with 156 employees. X-FAB Texas was bought at the beginning of 1999 and is currently in the running-up phase. Both factories make 6-inch wafers.

The Thesys Gesellschaft fur Mikroelektronik mbH was founded in 1992. The company's headquarters is in Erfurt, Thuringia. The company specializes in application-specific integrated switching circuits and offers the entire range of ASICs and ASSPs from gate arrays to foundry output. Thesys owns a modern 6-inch wafer production plant at its Erfurt location and is certified under QS 9000, VDA 6.1, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.

The `utilities technology' department at the Erfurt location supplies electrical, cold and heat energy, as well as ultrapure chemicals and water, not just for the company's own needs, but also for other companies in the `Erfurt Sudost' high-tech location. In 1998, Thesys achieved a turnover of around 33.6 million Euros with 442 employees, including 22 apprentices.