Atmel Gets Approval for Fab Sale - Analyst Blog
Atmel Corp. (ATML) announced that the proposed sale of its wafer fabrication operation in Rousset, France, to LFoundry GmbH has been approved by employees at the facility and the Rousset Works Council.
Subsequent to receiving Works Council approval, Atmel sought and obtained approval from its Board of Directors to enter into a stock purchase agreement with LFoundry for the sale, which is expected to close in the second quarter.
Over 700 workers are currently employed at the Rousset fab. In recent times, management has been taking steps to streamline its workforce and improve profitability in response to the challenging economic environment. These actions include selling non-core wafer fabrication operations, consolidating or eliminating numerous product lines (approximately 14) and reducing the workforce by nearly 25%.
Meanwhile, Atmel revised its fourth quarter income tax expense and recorded out-of-period adjustments totaling $10 million as income tax expense. This was mainly related to intercompany loans and tax expenses related to fiscal years 2003 to 2008. As a result of the additional out-of-period adjustments noted above, income tax expense for the fourth quarter of 2009 totaled $10.5 million, compared to an income tax expense of $4.2 million reported earlier.
As a result of the income tax expense correction, net loss for the fourth quarter and for 2009 was revised to $83.3 million (18 cents per share) and $109.5 million (24 cents per share), respectively. The company earlier reported a net loss of $76.9 million and $103.2 million for the fourth quarter and full year 2009 respectively. This includes charges related to restructuring activities, acquisitions, grant repayments, asset impairment charges, pension benefits related to the fab sale, gain on sale of assets, and stock-based compensation.
Based in San Jose, CA, Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and sells integrated circuit products.
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