Atmel reacts to former CEO's upcoming proxy battle for reinstatement

By Lisa Kerner

Charlotte, N.C., March 30 - Atmel Corp. reacted to ousted chairman and chief executive officer George Perlegos' filing of preliminary proxy materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to the special May 18 meeting of stockholders.

Perlegos, terminated in August 2006 for cause, wants to remove those directors who terminated him and to reinstate himself as CEO, according to a company news release.

Perlegos led Atmel for more than 20 years, the last five of which saw the company incur net losses totaling some $1.2 billion, the release said.

On March 23, Atmel filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California against George Perlegos and Gust Perlegos claiming the pair are using false and misleading proxy materials in their proxy campaign to replace Atmel's CEO and its independent directors at the May 18 meeting.

"Atmel's board and new management team have initiated a number of significant strategic and operational improvements," Atmel president and CEO Steven Laub said in the release.

"Through these actions, estimated to save between $70 million to $80 million this year alone, we have started to refocus the company on its core microcontroller products and technical strengths and on improving growth and profitability."

Atmel, based in San Jose, Calif., designs and manufactures microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components.

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