Corning Adds Lasertron's Optoelectronics Capabilities by Buying Oak Industries

In a move to further diversify its position in the optical communications market, Corning Inc., Advanced Materials (Corning, NY) has signed an agreement to purchase Oak Industries Inc. (Waltham, MA) in a stock deal worth approximately $1.8 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, which have been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Corning will exchange .83 shares of Corning common stock for each share of Oak common stock. Based on the closing price for Corning on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, November 12, 1999, this represents a premium of 51% over the $49.75 closing price for Oak Industries.

The plum in the Oak Industries holdings is subsidiary Lasertron Inc., which specializes in pump lasers for erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Lasertron also manufactures transmission lasers and receivers that are targeted at the rapidly growing metropolitan transmission market, and maintains in-house chip fabrication facilities. Other Oak companies include connector specialist Gilbert Engineering Co., and the Oak Frequency Control Group, which designs and manufactures frequency control devices that are used as a timing reference in wireless, wireline, and fiber-optic applications.