Finisar Denies it Breached Agreement

SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 13 -- Finisar Corp. has issued a denial that it breached an agreement to acquire Infineon Technologies AG's fiber optics business unit.

According to Finisar, which makes fiber optic subsystems and network test and monitoring systems, it received a notice from Infineon on Jan. 11 purporting to terminate an Oct. 11 purchase agreement for the acquisition in exchange for approximately 110 million shares of Finisar common stock (See Finisar, Infineon Modify Acquisition Agreement," Oct. 12). Finisar said Infineon's notice "alleges, among other things, that the purported termination was based on Finisar's breach of the agreement," and that "no such breach has taken place."

Finisar said that prior to receiving that notice, it had advised Infineon that its board was in the process of considering "whether, in the proper exercise of its fiduciary duties, it could continue to recommend the transaction to Finisar's stockholders in light of a number of recent adverse developments in Infineon's fiber optics business," and that the board "engaged in this re-examination of its recommendation in compliance with the terms of the agreement."

The company said it "repeatedly assured Infineon that it is prepared to fulfill its obligations under the agreement, including bringing the transaction to a vote of the Finisar stockholders, whether or not the board's recommendation is modified or withdrawn."

Finisar's systems enable high-speed data communications for networking and storage applications over Gigabit Ethernet local area networks, Fibre Channel storage area networks and metropolitan area networks using both IP and SONET/SDH-based protocols.

For more information, visit: www.finisar.com