Jabil Announces Acquisition of Celetronix
India-Based Manufacturer Brings Geographic Value
17 January 2006
St. Petersburg, FL
ST. PETERSBURG, FL – January 17, 2006 – Jabil Circuit, Inc. (NYSE: JBL) today announced it has exercised its purchase option to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Celetronix, International, Ltd., a privately-held, India-based manufacturer of electronic products. “India has a growing domestic economy and is well-known for engineering services. We believe India will become an increasingly important location to support hardware development and manufacturing for export to the global market. The complementary capabilities of Celetronix will make us the dominant provider of services to and from this important emerging market,” said Jabil’s President and CEO, Timothy Main.
“We are excited to become part of Jabil, the premier EMS company in the world. With Jabil’s support and expertise, we will leverage our existing relationships to make India a leading manufacturing center for the India market and electronics exporting,” said Celetronix CEO Jugi Tandon. Celetronix provides design and manufacturing services to customers in the consumer, computing and storage markets. The acquisition will add 5,750 employees and 270,000 square feet of manufacturing space in three locations: Mumbai, Chennai and Pondicherry. Jabil currently manufactures in 176,000 square feet in Ranjangaon, India.
“Celetronix has grown a great business in India that we plan to augment with Jabil’s supply chain and operational expertise,” said Bill Muir, Jabil’s Regional President of Asia. “With a highly-regarded management team, proven technology design and manufacturing competence, we view this acquisition as a superb cost-effective complement to our existing Asia sites,” Muir said.
As previously disclosed in Jabil’s quarterly and annual filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission, Jabil loaned $25 million to Celetronix in fiscal 2005 in exchange for an option to purchase 100 percent of the shares of the company. The incremental purchase price for the acquisition is expected to be approximately $155 million plus the assumption of approximately $30 million of net debt. The Company said, subject to certain governmental approvals and Celetronix shareholder approval, it currently anticipates the acquisition to be final during March 2006. Jabil plans to update current fiscal year guidance on March 22, 2006 during its second quarter earnings conference call.
About Jabil
Jabil is an electronic solutions company providing comprehensive electronics design, manufacturing and product management services to global electronics and technology companies. Jabil provides comprehensive, individualized-focused solutions to customers in a broad range of industries. Jabil common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “JBL”. Further information is available on the company’s website:jabil.com
Investor & Media Contact:
Beth Walters
Vice President, Investor Relations
Jabil Circuit, Inc.
(727) 803-3349
investor_relations@jabil.com
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including those regarding our consummating the transaction referenced herein, the benefits we currently anticipate from the transaction, including enhancing customer relationships, successfully expanding our presence in India and other matters. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involving risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the parties ability to obtain the required approval and satisfy the other conditions to closing and consummating the transaction; our ability to enhance Celetronix's business and retain and build upon its customer relationships;, our ability to successfully expand our presence in India; known and unknown liabilities of Celetronix and its subsidiaries that we may have to address after closing with limited recourse against the selling shareholders for indemnification; our ability to provide quality services and retain customers and business; business and competitive factors generally affecting the electronic manufacturing services industry, our customers and our business; other factors that we may not have currently identified or quantified; and other risks, relevant factors and uncertainties identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2005, any subsequent Reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K and our other securities filings. Jabil disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.