Summary: Electronics-automation manufacturing vendor Asyst Technologies was delisted from NASDAQ after declaring bankruptcy following its failure to meet debt obligations at the end of March. Company officials blamed its economic problems on the global economic downturn and drop in sales of the flat-panel displays that are a leading product for its main customers.
Electronics-manufacturing automation vendor Asyst Technologies, Inc. has been delisted from the NASDAQ Stock Market following the company’s decision to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection April 20. Asyst’s Japanese subsidiaries, Asyst Technologies Japan Holdings Company, Inc. and Asyst Technologies Japan, Inc., also filed for bankruptcy protection under Japanese laws. Company executives said they do not intend to appeal the delisting. Trading of the company’s stock on NASDAQ was suspended April 30.
Asyst executives blamed the global economic recession and declining sales in electronics for its financial problems. The company has laid off staff, cut executive salaries and benefits and instituted mandatory unpaid furloughs to reduce staff costs. They also explored selling the company or some of its assets, but found no buyers before being forced to file Chapter 11.
Asyst’s primary creditors are the KeyBank National Association and a series of Japanese banks. KeyBank sent Asyst a default letter April 7 notifying the company it had missed the March 31 due date for payment of interest and fees on a $76.5 million loan.
Asyst reported a loss during its fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31, 2008, of $7. 3 million on sales of $83 million. That is a decline of $12 million in sales compared to the previous quarter, in which Asyst reported an operating loss of $10.6 million plus an additional one-time non-cash goodwill impairment charge of $89.4 million.
Asyst, which counts Intel Corp. and Toshiba Corp. among its customers, noted in its bankruptcy filing that it owes $3.3 million to Singapore’s Flextronics Manufacturing and $515,000 or less apiece to PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, Saguaro Technologies, Inc. and the German company Jenoptics.
Asyst manufactures systems to automate the manufacture and quality control of semi conductors and flat-panel displays. The company was founded in 1984 and has been listed on NASDAQ since 1993.