[advertise]广告[/advertise]12/29/2009, Photop, one of the largest passive component suppliers in China, one of the most ambitious fiber optic company in China, was sold to II-VI, an US crystal technology company yesterday. II-VI Incorporated (NASDAQ Global Select: IIVI) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Photop Technologies, Inc. (Photop). The initial consideration consists of cash of approximately $45.6 million and approximately 1,150,000 shares of II-VI common stock. Based on the most recent stock price of II-VI (32.3USD), that means Photop was sold in about 82.7 million USD. II-VI agreed to increase the purchasing price if Photop can have better operation result. The transaction is scheduled to close during January 2010. Upon the closing of the transaction, Photop will be combined with II-VI’s VLOC Incorporated subsidiary and Near-Infrared Optics business for financial reporting purposes. This combined group, along with the Compound Semiconductor Group, will be directed by Dr. Vincent D. (Chuck) Mattera, Jr., Vice President of II-VI, who will be promoted to Executive Vice President of II-VI upon the closing of the transaction. Photop, headquartered in Fuzhou, China with over 3,000 employees, is a vertically-integrated manufacturer of engineered materials, optical components, microchip lasers for visible display applications, and optical modules for use in fiber optic communication networks and other diverse consumer and commercial applications. It concludes 5 sub-divisions, each responsible for fiber component, crystal, green laser, filter etc. Some of its sub-divisions are located in Guangzhou and Shanghai. Photop's core business is from the Koncent, which was founded by Mr. Sun zhaoyang after he left Casix, a company purchased by JDSU in 2000. Sun was also the founder of Casix, one of the first passive component manufacture in China. Casix is also famous for that it trained many fiber optics engineers in China. Hongrui Wang, Chairman of Photop Technologies, Inc. commented, “We are delighted to team with II-VI Incorporated. We believe that by joining forces with II-VI we will have access to significantly more resources, especially through its VLOC subsidiary and Near-Infrared Optics business, further securing our capabilities on research and product development, sales marketing and manufacturing operations. We are looking forward to a brighter future and greater growth prospects for our company and our employees.” But for us, it is still strange to see this merge happened today. The guy who first told us about this news said he was worried about the fiber optics business in Photop in the future. He thought that Photop decided to sell themselves is because they cann't go to IPO in Nasdaq. Since last year there is rumor that they are looking for purchaser. Some others tell us the driver that pushs Photop to merge with II-VI is they need money. Because they have made several big investments in recent years, but the return from those investment is poor. Under this situation, Photop has to choose merge with others to find more money for them. There is still questions. II-VI is not a fiber optics company, so what is the future for Photo's fiber optics business? Photop's management team is famous to create new company. Will they found a new company when they have opportunity to leave II-VI?