Press Releases

Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Michiya Kadota; hereinafter "Kurita") entered into an agreement for the acquisition of the shares of Pentagon Technologies Group, Inc (Head Office: Hayward, California; hereinafter "Pentagon Technologies") which engages in the precision tool cleansing business in the U.S. As Kurita will acquire 25% of the issued shares of Pentagon Technologies by investing 50 million US dollars (about 5.6 billion yen), Pentagon Technologies will become an affiliated company accounted for using the equity method. Kurita expects to proceed in the future to acquire the remaining shares to make Pentagon Technologies a subsidiary.

The Kurita Group intends to establish a global four-pillar system consisting of Japan, Asia, Europe and North and South America toward rapid expansion of its overseas business. The equity investment through the share acquisition stated above will be made as a part of the actions to strengthen business in the U.S. which is the strategic market. Other purposes of the capital contribution are to further increase the competitiveness in the market by securing a base for the overseas service business in the electronics industry, which is positioned as a key business segment. Acquiring the cutting-edge cleaning tool technologies and expertise of Pentagon Technologies creates synergies with the precision cleaning tool business which the Kurita Group has been developing in Japan further accelerates business growth and the offering of new value.

Precision tool cleaning is a cleaning service that restores semiconductor manufacturing equipment to a "new" condition by removing accumulated contamination on the surfaces of the equipment. Restoring the equipment to a "new" condition is a critical function for maintaining consistent and stable semiconductor device manufacturing processes. The semiconductor manufacturing process demands extremely high cleanliness, which in turn requires highly advanced cleaning technologies. While semiconductor devices have become smaller (miniaturized) and the globalization of production bases has advanced rapidly, the importance of precision tool cleaning technologies that will help to improve the yield rate of products and reduce production costs has risen. Kurita decided to establish and strengthen a system for responding to the advancement of customer technologies and the global expansion of the precision tool cleaning business.

Founded in 1998, Pentagon Technologies, headquartered in California, has engaged in the precision tool cleaning business primarily in the U.S. for the last twenty years, with precision tool cleaning factories and facilities for development and services in California, Texas, New York and Oregon. Developing cutting-edge cleaning tool technologies(*) and a unique cleaning method that contributes to improving the quality of customers' products while reducing the burden on the environment (*), Pentagon Technologies focuses on providing services for leading manufacturers of semiconductors and semiconductor manufacturing equipment that have production bases in the U.S. Pentagon Technologies' factories are qualified as "certified cleaning factories" for the leading semiconductor equipment manufacturers. The company has established a solid customer base in the market for semiconductor precision tool cleaning and is one of the leading service providers in the global market.

Currently, among the companies of the Kurita Group, Kuritec Service Co., Ltd. engages in the precision cleaning tool business in Japan. In future, the technologies and services of Pentagon Technologies and Kuritec Service will be combined to provide solutions with high added value as a global supplier of the precision cleaning tool service, which aims for greater intimacy with customers toward continual business expansion and the development of new overseas markets. In addition, the business area in the U.S. will continue to be expanded through collaboration with the overseas operating companies of the Kurita Group.

The Kurita Group will continue to increase opportunities for growth through mergers and acquisitions as well as business alliances with strategic partners, among other means, while achieving autonomous growth in regions and markets where growth is expected in the future. As it does so, it will continue to provide comprehensive solutions that create new value for customers.

• （*）Pentagon Technologies provides tool cleaning technologies and processes uniquely adapted to each type/model of production equipment (new and existing products) . Pentagon Technologies has an extensive track record and know-how in cleaning new production equipment. In addition it designs and produces surface particle measuring instruments and technical services relating to the clean room. Pentagon Technologies contributes to increases in the productivity of customer’s factories while continuously reducing the impact on the environment.