ASM International postpones extraordinary meeting until October

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., June 24 - ASM International NV agreed with its shareholders Fursa Alternative Strategies LLC and Hermes Focus Asset Management to postpone its extraordinary meeting of shareholders until Oct. 15.

The postponement will allow ASM to explore its options in regards to the unsolicited offer made by Applied Materials Inc. and Francisco Partners to acquire all of ASM's front-end activities, a company news release said.

ASM also formed a transaction committee and a monitoring committee that includes one representative named jointly by Hermes and Fursa.

According to ASM, the meeting, which originally could be held as late as July 15, was for the purpose of voting on resolutions proposed by Hermes and Fursa.

An Enterprise Court ruling disallowed voting on the resolutions at the annual meeting of shareholders on May 21, ASM said.

In May, Fursa announced it planned to support ASM's newly proposed management team at the company's 2008 annual meeting.

A schedule 13D filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission said the 5.9% stockholder intended to vote:

• For the appointment of the new management team;

• For the dismissal of current chief executive officer Chuck del Prado and certain supervisory board members as proposed by Hermes; and

• Against the discharge of the supervisory board and management board.

In February, Fursa urged ASM to discuss potential alternatives to increase shareholder value.

In March, Hermes put forth a number of proposals for inclusion on the agenda at ASM's annual meeting.

It was previously reported that Hermes sought to dismiss all five members of the supervisory board not up for re-election and to dismiss del Prado as a member of the management board, among other proposed changes.

ASM designs and manufactures equipment and materials used to produce semiconductor devices. The company is based in Bilthoven, the Netherlands.

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