BOC Edwards Now Edwards

BOC Edwards announced today at Semicon West that it will become Edwards, effective immediately.

The company said the announcement is a result of its change of ownership from the Linde Group.

Edwards also announced its executive management team: Nigel Hunton, CEO; Phil Blakey, president, Americas; Alan Purvis, managing director, Europe; Hiroshi Kusano, president, Japan; JC Kim, president, Korea; and Neil Lavender-Jones, managing drector, Asia.

Hunton said, “As a leading supplier of vacuum, abatement, chemical management equipment and services to the world’s semiconductor OEMs and fabs, Edwards will continue to provide superior technology and global service and support to its customers worldwide."

“With the support of our new owners, CCMP Capital, we intend to invest in growing Edwards as a newly independent, privately owned company.” CCMP Capital completed its acquisition of BOC Edwards' equipment business from the Linde Group in May. (See "BOC Edwards Unit Sold to Private Equity Firm")

Edwards, a supplier of vacuum equipment and related products and services to the semiconductor and other industries, was founded by F.D. Edwards in 1919. Edwards High Vacuum International was acquired by The BOC Group in 1968 and became BOC Edwards in 1997. The BOC Group was acquired by The Linde Group in September 2006. Edwards has 4000 employees.

The company said new branding will begin to appear this month and will replace the BOC Edwards brand over the next year. It Web site and e-mail addresses will also change to the "edwardsvacuum" domain immediately (the previous domain will automatically redirect mail and visitors).

"Over the next few months, some of our local legal entity names will change to be aligned with our new name," Edwards also said, in a letter to its customers. "You will be notified separately of this, although it is not expected to affect transaction processing."

For more information, visit: www.edwardsvacuum.com