FEI Divests SEM Line
FEI stated on its quarterly earnings call that Phenom did not attain the sales volume necessary to impact profitability. Introduced in 2007, the Phenom is an easy to use, tabletop SEM (see IBO 12/15/07), which competes with similar systems from Hitachi High-Technologies and JEOL.
Hillsboro, OR 11/3/09; Eindhoven, The Netherlands 11/3/09—FEI Company has sold its Phenom Scanning Electron Microscopy product line to Phenom-World BV for an undisclosed amount. Phenom-World was established November 3 and is a majority-owned subsidiary of NTS Group BV, FEI’s manufacturing and development partner for the Phenom. Phenom-World will be responsible for marketing, sales and distribution of the Phenom, as well as service and warranty repairs. FEI will retain a minority position in Phenom-World and holds certain related intellectual property. “As we continue to develop individual applications, we will be able to purchase Phenoms from Phenom-World when it is appropriate for our customer needs,” stated Paul Scagnetti, vice president and general manager of FEI’s Industry market division. Phenom-World will be headed by John Berghmans, former CEO of the NTS Group. The transaction is expected to have a modest positive impact on FEI’s 2010 earnings.
