Coors Family to Buy CoorsTek for $254M

GOLDEN, Colo. December 24, 2002; The AP treported that CoorsTek Inc. said Monday it has accepted a sweetened, $26 per share offer from the Coors family, a month after the industrial components manufacturer rejected Coors' offer as too low.

The 8.6 million-share transaction with Keystone Acquisition Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Keystone Holdings LLC, was valued at about $254 million. The deal also calls for Coors to assume about $104 million of CoorsTek debt. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2003.

Keystone Holdings is owned by John K. Coors, CoorsTek's chairman, president and chief executive officer, and a trust established for several Coors family members. Keystone Holdings and its affiliates own about 27 percent of CoorsTek outstanding shares.

CoorsTek is a former subsidiary of Golden-based brewer Adolph Coors Co. that was spun off in 1992. It designs and makes components for the semiconductor capital equipment and for the automotive, electronics, industrial and telecommunications markets.

Under terms of the merger, CoorsTek can solicit other offers through Jan. 10. If it backs out of the proposal, it will pay a $9 million termination fee.

Last month, CoorsTek rejected the Coors family's offer of $21 per share.

Also Monday, CoorsTek updated revenue projections for the fourth quarter, saying it expects sales to be $79 million to $82 million, or about 18 percent to 21 percent below third-quarter 2002 revenue.

The decline was due largely to weakness in capital equipment and assembly segments of CoorsTek's semiconductor business, the company said.

CoorsTek earned $400,000 in net income on net sales of $99.6 million in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. The company lost $25.8 million on revenues of $400.4 million in 2001.