Applied will finance the deal through a combination of cash
and a term loan facility. The transaction was approved by Applied’s Board of
Directors, and is expected to be immediately accretive to the company’s
adjusted EPS at close.
Kokusai provides high productivity batch processing systems
which will complement Applied’s single-wafer processing systems. Applied will
also benefit from Kokusai’s supply chain and manufacturing capabilities in
Japan and Asia.
In its most recent quarter, Applied Materials saw a 23% drop
in sales to $3.5 billion and a 41% decline in adjusted EPS to $0.70. The company
expects adjusted EPS of $0.67 to $0.75 for the third quarter of 2019.
Applied Materials’ shares have gained 38% so far this year and 13% over the past three months. The stock was up 3.5% in premarket hours on Monday.