COVINGTON, KY -- Ashland Inc. announced it will buy Hercules Inc. for $2.6 billion.
Ashland will pay $18.60 in cash and a 0.093 share of Ashland stock for each share of Hercules stock, valuing that stock at $23.01 each, a 38% premium from Thursday's close. The deal will be financed by cash on hand and by committed debt from Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS).
Ashland said the acquisition will boost its presence in the specialty chemical market.
HERNDON, VA – A host of major OEM and EMS companies, under the auspices of iNEMI, has outlined a set of recommendations for managing Pb-free alloy alternatives.
The consortium members recommend the following to help manage the use of multiple solder alloys:
Drive convergence of Pb-free alloys.
Develop an industry-standard assessment methodology.
Establish performance guidelines.
Update standards.
Identify and differentiate alloys.
iNEMI members supporting these recommendations include Agilent Technologies, Celestica, Cisco, Delphi Electronics & Safety, Flextronics International, Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, Jabil Circuit, Motorola, Plexus Corp., Sanmina-SCI, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments.
ARLINGTON, VA – Worldwide revenue for consumer electronics will grow nearly 10% this year, hitting $700 billion by 2009, says a recent report from the Consumer Electronics Association and the GfK Group.
Consumers will spend $42 billion more on CE products in 2009 over 2008. Countries with fast-growing economies and large emerging middle classes, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, will lead the way in new CE revenue growth, says the report. By 2009, China will account for nearly 15% of global CE revenue, trailing only North America (22% share) and Western Europe (16% share).
Consumers’ ongoing desire for mobility makes this the largest category worldwide in both unit sales and revenue. Collectively, sales of mobile products will surpass a staggering 1.5 billion units this year, says the report. Topping the list are portable navigation devices, with expected worldwide revenue growth of nearly 20%. Laptop computers (up 15%) and cellphones/smartphones (up 14%) will also see strong sales.
Global revenue for LCD TVs will grow nearly 28%, resulting in more than 100 million units sold worldwide. Flat-screen TV sales will account for nearly 20% of worldwide CE sales. DVD players have expected sales of 127 million units in 2008, while the forecast for video game console sales is 89 million units.
AUSTIN, TX-- Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc. announced that its subsidiary, Applied Nanotech, Inc. (ANI), established a strategic development program with Optomec, Inc. to further develop copper inks for aerosol jet printing applications.
SINGAPORE – Singapore's electronics industry rose in June, reversing a one-month fall into recession. The sector rose 2.3 points to 51.7, according to purchasing executives in more than 150 industrial companies.
May was the first time in nearly two years the electronics sector failed to grow.
The national purchasing managers' index rose 1.6 points sequentially to 50.6 in June, on new orders and higher levels of production output. A reading above 50.0 is a sign of an expanding market.
Electronics makes up one-third of Singapore's manufacturing output.
LOS ALTOS, CA – China’s electronic equipment production market is finally slowing down, and taking the rest of the world with it.
Citing the recent economic environment and spate of earthquakes, research firm Henderson Ventures said China’s short-term equipment production output will drop eight points to 13.5% this year, before rebounding slightly in 2009 and 2010. The appreciating currency, higher labor costs and tighter environmental policies will conspire to “subdue” expansion in the longer term, Henderson said, although growth rates will remain “attractive.”
Worldwide equipment production is forecast to be rise 6.4% this year, down from 9.1% last year. It will grow 7.5% in 2009, and 8.8% in 2010, the firm predicts.
