ePAK Resources (S) Pte. Ltd. Triples Manufacturing Capacity
October 31 2007 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
Strong Demand in China Drives Expansion WAYNE, Pa. and AUSTIN,
Texas, Oct. 31 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ascend Acquisition
Corp. ("Ascend") (OTC:ASAQOTC:ASAQUOTC:ASAQW) (BULLETIN BOARD:
ASAQ, ASAQU, ASAQW) , a specified purpose acquisition company,
announced today that its proposed business combination target, ePAK
Resources (S) Pte. Ltd. ("ePAK"), a privately held, full-service
supplier of semiconductor transfer and handling products, expanded
manufacturing space at its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility
in Southern China. The expansion nearly tripled manufacturing space
at its facility in Shenzhen, China to approximately 600,000 square
feet from just over 200,000 square feet and was completed in
September. The decision to increase capacity was in response to
strong demand in China, the fastest growing semiconductor
manufacturing region in the world. Based on data from CCID
Consulting, China's integrated circuit ("IC") industry generated
RMB100.6 billion (US$13.4 billion) in sales revenue in 2006, up
43.3% from 2005. Over the same time period, the number of ICs
produced increased 36.2%. This growth is expected to continue as
more and more multinational semiconductor companies establish
operations in the region. "The new capacity will provide ePAK with
greater resources to meet strong demand and assist our customers in
realizing their time critical revenues," said Steve Dezso, ePAK's
CEO. "Our ability to expand our business has been constrained by
the cash flow generated from our sales growth, all of which has
been reinvested into the business. While our cash generation has
been substantial and grows month-to-month, exceptional customer
demand for our products continues to outstrip our cash resources.
Upon closing of the business combination with Ascend, we will have
the capital we need to make additional investments in our
cleanrooms, precision cleaning lines and high purity manufacturing
infrastructure." ePAK's Shenzhen facility holds ISO 9001:2000 and
ISO 14001 certifications and performs precision injection molding,
extrusion, vacuum forming, submicron cleaning, assembly and
materials compounding. ePAK continues to expand and qualify
manufacturing processes phase by phase as it utilizes the added
manufacturing space now available. Customer audit and qualification
visits continue to accelerate resulting in over 10 new customer
qualifications for the Company's high purity manufacturing and
cleaning processes in August alone. In July 2007, Ascend entered
into a definitive agreement to acquire ePAK. Upon completion of the
transaction, which is expected in the first quarter of 2008, the
resulting public company will be domiciled in Bermuda and renamed
ePAK International Ltd. It is expected that ePAK International's
common stock and warrants will trade on the Nasdaq Global Market.
About ePAK Resources (S) Pte. Ltd. ePAK is a full-service designer,
manufacturer and supplier of precision engineered products and
solutions for the automated transport and handling of semiconductor
and electronic devices. ePAK's product areas include front-end
wafer handling, back-end IC transport, and end-system sub-assembly
handling. The Company's products are sold globally to top tier
global customers including semiconductor companies, system OEMs,
and IC assembly and test operations. The Company's low cost,
large-scale manufacturing operations in Shenzhen, the People's
Republic of China ("PRC") are centrally located to the
semiconductor industry. ePAK's corporate headquarters is in Austin,
Texas and the Company maintains nine sales and applications
engineering offices worldwide. About Ascend Acquisition Corporation
Ascend Acquisition Corp. was formed on December 5, 2005 for the
purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset
acquisition or other similar business combination with an operating
business. Ascend's registration statement for its initial public
offering was declared effective on May 11, 2006 and the offering
closed on May 22, 2006, generating net proceeds of approximately
$38.5 million from the sale of 6.9 million units, including the
full exercise of the underwriters' over-allotment option and the
sale of 166,667 units to the Ascend's Chairman and CEO, Don K.
Rice. Each unit was comprised of one share of Ascend common stock
and two warrants, each with an exercise price of $5.00. As of June
30, 2007, Ascend held approximately $40.0 million in a trust
account maintained by an independent trustee, which will be
released to Ascend upon the consummation of the business
combination. Additional Information The parties intend to file with
the SEC a registration statement and proxy statement under Form S-4
and F-4 in connection with the proposed acquisition of ePAK and
reincorporation of Ascend in Bermuda. STOCKHOLDERS OF ASCEND AND
OTHER INTERESTED PERSONS ARE ADVISED TO READ, WHEN AVAILABLE, THE
FINAL PROSPECTUS AND DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT IN CONNECTION WITH
THE TRANSACTIONS AND THE SOLICIATION OF PROXIES FOR THE SPECIAL
MEETING OF ASCEND'S STOCKHOLDERS BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN
IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The final prospectus and definitive proxy
statement will be mailed to Ascend's stockholder as of a record
date to be established for voting on the acquisition and
redomestication. These documents also will be available without
charge online at the Securities and Exchange Commission's Internet
site (http://www.sec.gov/) and by mail through requests to Ascend
Acquisition Corp., 435 Devon Park Drive, Bldg. 400 Wayne, PA 19087,
Attention: T. Anderson. Stockholders and other interested persons
can also read Ascend's final prospectus, dated May 11, 2006, for a
description of the security holdings of Ascend's directors and
officers and of EarlyBirdCapital, Inc., the underwriters of
Ascend's initial public offering, and their respective interests in
the successful consummation of the proposed transactions. FORWARD
LOOKING STATEMENTS This press release may contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 about Ascend, ePAK and their combined business
after completion of the proposed business combination. These
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
projections about future events. These forward-looking statements
are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
assumptions about us that may cause actual results, levels of
activity, performance or achievements to be materially different
from any future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking
statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "could,"
"would," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate,"
"continue," or the negative of such terms or other similar
expressions. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a
discrepancy include, but are not limited to, Ascend's ability to
effect a business combination, ePAK's ability to grow future
revenues and earnings, changes in demand for ePAK's products,
market acceptance of the ePAK's products, changes in the laws of
the People's Republic of China that affect ePAK's operations, and
other factors that may be detailed from time to time in Ascend's
filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
and other regulatory authorities. For more information, please
contact: Ascend Acquisition Corporation Don K. Rice, Chairman and
CEO Tel: +1-610-519-1336 Email: Website:
http://www.ascendgrowth.com/ ePAK International Inc. Steve Dezso,
CEO Tel: +1-512-231-8083 Email: Website: http://www.epak.com/
Investor Relations: Crocker Coulson, President CCG Investor
Relations Tel: +1-646-213-1915 Email: Website:
http://www.ccgir.com/ DATASOURCE: Ascend Acquisition Corporation
CONTACT: Ascend Acquisition Corporation - Don K. Rice, Chairman and
CEO, +1-610-519-1336, or ; or ePAK International Inc. - Steve
Dezso, CEO, +1-512-231-8083, or ; or Investor Relations - Crocker
Coulson, President of CCG Investor Relations, +1-646-213-1915, or
Web Site http://www.ascendgrowth.com/ http://www.epak.com/
http://www.ccgir.com/
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