The Carlyle Group Completes AZ Electronic Materials Acquisition for €338 Million and Announces Management Team and Board

Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announces that it has completed the acquisition of AZ Electronic Materials for €338 million (CHF518m) and appointed the management team and Board.

Thomas W. von Krannichfeldt has been appointed to Chief Executive Officer and will take up his post in November. He has 30 years experience in industry, with positions at Praxair, Union Carbide and Mobil Oil. He was formerly Executive Vice President of the Praxair Surface Technologies and Praxair Electronics divisions at Praxair, Inc. Ken Greatbatch has been appointed to Chief Financial Officer of the company. He was formerly CFO of BTP and Vantico and has sixteen years experience in the chemicals industry.

Carlyle has also appointed the Board of AZ Electronic Materials, which includes Thomas von Krannichfeldt and Ken Greatbatch, and three executives from The Carlyle Group, Robert Easton, Zeina Mansour and Gregor Böhm. The appointed non-executive directors are Sir Denys Henderson, former Chairman of ICI, Steve Hannam, formerly CEO of BTP, Bob Coxon, a former Senior Vice President of ICI and Werner Interthal, formerly Global Head AZ Electronic Materials.

“We are delighted to have appointed such a talented management team and believe that Tom and Ken will be a great team to lead AZ Electronic Materials. The deep industry expertise of the Board will be of great support as we seek to grow sales and expand the business,” said Robert Easton, Managing Director, The Carlyle Group.

Thomas W. von Krannichfeldt said, “AZ Electronic Materials has an excellent team of researchers, developers, salesmen and production experts. I am looking forward to joining them to build on AZ’s market positions while remaining focused on providing our customers with high quality products.”

AZ Electronic Materials is a leading global supplier of electronic materials to the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. It has research and development and manufacturing sites in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, France and the US, and a global sales team. AZ has approximately 800 employees worldwide and 2003 revenues were €291 million.

Carlyle has specific expertise in semiconductors and electronic materials through its buyout and venture activities, including investments in Jazz Semiconductor, Ness and CPU Technology, enabling Carlyle to support the AZ management team from both a technology and industry perspective. Carlyle’s global presence, with teams across Asia, US and Europe, position the firm well to support and develop AZ’s business internationally.

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