LATEST: CELESTRON HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY SYNTA

[carlogambino]

Latest email recieved this morning:

A Message from Joseph A. Lupica Jr., CEO of Celestron

As of today (4/6/05), Celestron has been acquired by Synta, a valued Celestron supplier for the past 15 years. Although there has been much speculation about the acquisition, the press release included below covers the most important aspects. This purchase is a very positive development for Celestron and will allow us to continue providing the best telescopes available on the market. The new owner is dedicated to growing Celestron's reputation for high-quality optics and we can assure you that product quality and value will only be enhanced by this acquisition.

Your questions and comments are very important to us and we will respond to all of them, send questions or comments to pr@celestron.com


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CELESTRON PURCHASED BY SW TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION, A DELAWARE COMPANY,
AFFILIATE OF SYNTA TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
Leading telescope manufacturer purchased by long term overseas optics manufacturer


TORRANCE, CA – April 6, 2005 – Celestron, one of the world’s leading designers and manufacturers of telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes and microscopes, today announced that SW Technology Corporation, a Delaware company, an affiliate of Synta Technology Corporation (“Synta”) acquired all of the outstanding members ownership interests of the company. Synta is a well-known optics manufacturer that has participated in the development of some of Celestron’s most popular products, such as the NexStar GT computerized telescope line. Synta has been a Celestron supplier for over 15 years.

Celestron will continue to be led by the senior management team of Joseph A. Lupica and Richard L. Hedrick with Chairman Alan Hale and Celestron founder Tom Johnson remaining as consultants. Synta and its related companies will continue to manufacture and supply other telescopes and related products for Celestron. As a result of the acquisition, Celestron will be in a position to meet all current financial obligations and continue to lead the product engineering, development and manufacturing processes from the Torrance, California headquarters. All product warranties will stay in effect and product support will not be interrupted or delayed. The company’s first goal is to fill a three month backlog of product orders and work to resume full scale production and product development operations.

“I have always had great admiration and respect for Celestron’s products and have had a very close and warm relationship with the company and its management team for the past 15 years,” said David Shen, Synta founder. “I am committed to maintaining Celestron's reputation of quality and innovation and will support their continued efforts to create and engineer products that give value to the consumer. I want to assure everyone that Celestron’s operations will remain in Torrance, the management team will stay intact, and Celestron will continue to develop innovative products of the highest quality for amateur astronomers.”

Shen said that since the reorganization in 2002 Celestron has been unable to take advantage of the market demand for its products because it was under capitalized. In addition, the long and expensive litigation initiated by its US competitor made it more difficult for the company to meet customer demands for existing and new products. Shen says those issues are now in the past. With the additional capital infusion required for the growth of the company, Shen has “full confidence that the current senior management team will be able to carry through the expansion of Celestron and continue to develop and manufacture high-end telescopes and related products to its loyal clientele.”

“Synta has deep understanding of the telescope industry and appreciation for the value of Celestron’s products,” said Celestron CEO Joseph A. Lupica. “They are investing in Celestron to grow Celestron’s business and that is a very positive development. This acquisition is in the best interest of Celestron dealers, employees, consumers and the telescope industry as a whole. Synta and Celestron will form a strong team to provide competitive products of the highest quality for consumers.” Lupica added, “I am very excited to be in a position whereby our entire workforce will be able to focus 100% of our energies on the development, production and distribution of high quality optical products. I am just as excited when I consider the innovative products we will be able to develop with the assistance of one of the leading telescope suppliers in the world, Synta Technology. It's time to go back to work for our customers doing what we do best.”

This acquisition takes place among rumors that Celestron would be purchased by their main competitor, Meade Instruments. Although officials at Meade Instruments have expressed an interest in acquiring Celestron, the action has been blocked by the FTC several times. According to Lupica, Meade has continually approached Celestron management with buyout offers over the past few years. He pointed out that Celestron’s senior management had a fiduciary responsibility to consider all reasonable offers, including an offer from a major competitor that would be subject to them obtaining the approval of the FTC. Celestron management also negotiated with several other interested parties before accepting Synta’s offer.

In response to a recent article in the Orange County Register, Lupica said, “We chose not to comment for the OC Register article because we felt it was inappropriate to comment on matters that were still in negotiation. Contrary to previous reports that the company is being purchased for a price below liquidation value, in fact each existing owner is getting a return on their original investment.”

About Celestron
With corporate offices and manufacturing, in Torrance, California, Celestron has been a leading designer, manufacturer and importer of high-quality optical products including telescopes and related accessories, binoculars and microscopes for almost 40 years. Celestron is a leader in the sale of performance telescopes worldwide and has very strong brand-name recognition among serious amateur astronomers for superior optics, outstanding design, and innovative technology. Celestron sells its products worldwide through a variety of specialty retail outlets and international distributors. Celestron is a privately held company.

Known throughout the world for superior optics, Celestron is recognized for many industry firsts including:

First to offer a commercially available fully computerized “GoTo” telescope
First to offer GPS telescopes
First to offer a commercially available Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope
First to offer commercially available Schmidt cameras
First to offer a larger aperture Schmidt-Cassegrain (22”) true observatory telescope for consumers or research facilities
First to offer PEC (Periodic Error Correction) in consumer telescopes
First to offer StarBright® multi-coatings for the highest throughput transmission
More information is available at www.celestron.com.


About Synta Technology Corporation
David Shen, a mechanical engineer and avid optical designer, is the founder of Synta Technology Corporation of Taiwan. For the last 20 years, Synta and its related companies worked to continually improve its manufacturing process through technological innovations and providing its clientele with high quality products at affordable pricing. Synta and Celestron have been conducting business together for over 15 years. The longevity of the relationship is due to the similarity in the vision of both companies as shared by their senior management team.

[VinSnr]

Actually I think this is good news.

Celestron has always been able to come out with good products but always at the wrong market segment (like CGE??? how many buy that when you have already got Losmandy at the other end?). Synta on the other hand, always target the lower-end segment by producing cheap yet functional products. You marry the two, and now you will most probably get some middle range products at a good price.

[Jim McGill]

Hi All,

Wonder if McGill C H would be able to obtain local rights for Celestron products and break a long-lasting monopoly in Singapore!?

Maybe will contact David soon.

Cheers!

Jim McGill.

[ariefm71]

Maybe will contact David soon

I'll call Mr. Shen right now if I were you

[VinSnr]

Maybe will contact David soon

I'll call Mr. Shen right now if I were you

not call......should go to his house immediately.

Maybe go together with a few beauties might help....

[Airconvent]

Hi All,

Wonder if McGill C H would be able to obtain local rights for Celestron products and break a long-lasting monopoly in Singapore!?

Maybe will contact David soon.

Cheers!

Jim McGill.

wah...! hope we will finally see reasonably priced Nexstars here!

Actually I think this is good news.

Celestron has always been able to come out with good products but always at the wrong market segment (like CGE??? how many buy that when you have already got Losmandy at the other end?). Synta on the other hand, always target the lower-end segment by producing cheap yet functional products. You marry the two, and now you will most probably get some middle range products at a good price.

I'll hold my horses first. Remember Tasco?
Seems Celestron has a habit of always being bought over by their suppliers and go bad together!
But of course, I would think Synta is a slightly different case study as they seem to have good financial support and coverage of the China market...
Hopefully they will be able to start positioning Celestron's prices closer to their chinese competitors but if they keep the whole US setup, can't see where they can actually cut any cost...mmmm
rich

[ariefm71]

I'll hold my horses first. Remember Tasco?

there is no comparison between TASCO and Synta. TASCO was
nothing more than an importer. Synta makes telescopes, some pretty good ones for the price