Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd, a Japanese integrated manufacturer, announced on Monday that it would buy Axcelis Technologies Inc., a U.S. chipmaking equipment manufacturer, for about 544 million dollars.

Sumitomo Heavy offered 5.2 dollars per Axcelis share, a 28.7%　premium on the Friday closing price of the U.S. manufacturer's stock. The Japanese heavy industries group is planning to develop its new areas of business, such as information technology and medical devices to strengthen its sales, and the buyout came as part of the Japanese maker's planning.

The Japanese company intends to acquire a majority stake of the U.S. manufacturer, making partnership with TPG Inc., a U.S. buyout fund.

Axcelis reported a net loss of 11.3 million dollars and sales of 404.8 million dollars last year. The two companies launched 50-50 joint venture Sen Corp. in 1983.

The Japanese manufacturer originally made negotiations with the U.S. manufacturer for 18 months, but the firm decided to offer an unsolicited buyout after the negotiations broke down, according to an official of the Japanese firm.

Axcelis is listed on the Nasdaq stock market and manufactures devices for ion implantation that are mainly used in processing silicon. But the U.S. firm made sluggish earnings recently, so the Japanese manufacturer decided to offer buyout for the U.S. firm so that it can improve the U.S. firm's efficiency and strengthen its own technological capabilities.

Electronics