Sirenza Moves Jobs to China
By Alicia Wallace, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
Feb. 16–Sirenza Microdevices Inc. is cutting an unknown number of local jobs as part of a plan to save costs by moving most of its Broomfield manufacturing operations to China.
The Broomfield-based designer of radio frequency components started the transition this month, according to a filing made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It plans to test the manufacturing line during the second quarter and expects to complete the transition by the third or fourth quarter, the filing said.
The local job cuts will occur over time, and Sirenza has started notifying some employees, said Jodi Bochert, Sirenza’s investor relations manager.
“We don’t know how many employees yet” will be affected, she said.
Of its 180 Broomfield employees, about 125 people work in various manufacturing positions, she said. The manufacturing that is done for the aerospace and defense sector has to remain in the United States and will not be affected, she said.
Sirenza obtained the Shang´hai, China, facility as the result of its acquisition of the San Jose, Calif.-based Premier Devices Inc., a maker of cable television amplifiers and radio frequency components. When the $75 million deal closed in April, Premier Devices reported it employed 575 people in design and manufacturing centers in San Jose, Shanghai and Nuremberg, Germany.
“Just from a cost-savings standpoint, it made sense,” Bochert said, adding the move also allows Sirenza to be closer to some of its customers.
Sirenza expects to incur $7.5 million to $8.5 million in costs associated with the transition, the SEC filing said. While part of that estimate includes costs for new equipment, the remainder is attributable to items including additional personnel, severance payments and “additional lease expense and potential lease termination expense,” the filing said.
Separately, Sirenza announced Thursday that Phillip Liao one of its directors, and his wife are selling their 7 million-share stake in Sirenza in a secondary offering of common stock. Sirenza said in a statement it is not selling any shares in the offering and will not receive any proceeds from the offering.
Piper Jaffray & Co. is the sole underwriter for the offering, which is expected to occur Feb. 22.
—–
To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thedailycamera.com.
Copyright (c) 2007, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
SMDI,