BEIJING, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/ -- Vimicro International Corporation (Nasdaq: VIMC) ("Vimicro"), a leading multimedia semiconductor and solution provider, today announced that Vimicro Electronics Corporation ("Vimicro Tianjin"), a joint venture company operated and managed by Vimicro, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Video Surveillance System ("ViSS") from Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Ltd. Co. ("ASB"). Vimicro Tianjin will acquire the complete ViSS business including all property, plant and equipment, inventories, business contracts, intellectual property and service and development capabilities in China. Moreover, Vimicro and ASB will continue the cooperation on solution and marketing developments in the future.
ViSS is a leading security and surveillance solution addressing the needs of telecom operators and local governments in China. As part of ASB, ViSS has been well established as the business platform for unified surveillance, storage and management solutions utilizing a broadband network infrastructure to connect independent monitoring sites across a broad geographical area. This platform can meet the monitoring needs of city roadways, airports, shopping centers, banks, schools, and other large facilities where surveillance is vital. ViSS also provides system management tools that enhance the visual and audio monitoring capabilities of multiple sites over telecommunication networks. It has been one of the most stable carrier-class video surveillance platforms available in the industry.
Vimicro Tianjin, jointly founded by Tianjin government and Vimicro, has a long-term strategic plan to further penetrate the surveillance market. As part of this acquisition, Vimicro Tianjin also gained the use of its brand name for a certain period as well as strong R&D team with deep industry experience.
"We are very excited to reach this agreement with ASB. The established telecom and government customers base and the prestigious brand name of ASB will provide us strong leverage to expand in the fast growing surveillance market in China. The acquisition and the partnership with ASB will further enrich our product portfolio to address the fast growing market needs, position us strongly as leading surveillance solution provider in China and build upon our growth," commented Dr. John Deng, Vimicro's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
"Combining ASB's rich experiences in telecom networks and its long-term cooperation with telecom carriers, together with Vimicro's expertise in video technology and vertical market, we will surely be able to better serve our customers going forward," said Kevin Liu, Senior Vice President, Applications Software Group, Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell.
The acquisition is expected to be closed in September of 2009 as agreed by both parties. The closing of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions.
About Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Ltd. Co.
Acatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell Ltd. Co. ("ASB") is the flagship company of Alcatel-Lucent in Asia. As a first-class production base in the world, ASB provides expertise in telecommunications industrialization and services to users in China, Asia Pacific and global markets. It is taking the lead in broadband access, data, fixed switch, mobile, optical networks, and IP and wireless fields and actively promotes development of the growing markets of 3G, IMS, NGN, IPTV. The company is directly managed by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and is the first foreign-invested company limited by shares in telecommunications industry in China, with extensive global resources.
About Vimicro International Corporation
Vimicro International Corporation is a leading multimedia semiconductor and solution provider that designs, develops and markets mixed-signal semiconductor products and system-level solutions that enable multimedia capabilities in a variety of products for the consumer electronics and communications markets. Vimicro is also expanding business into the surveillance market with system-level solutions and semiconductor products. Vimicro's ADSs, each of which represents four ordinary shares, are currently trading on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol "VIMC."
