Mills & Partners and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Complete Acquisition Of Lucent Technologies' Circuit Board Operation

St. Louis, December 2, 1996 - Mills & Partners, Inc. of St. Louis, in conjunction with Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Incorporated of Dallas, a leading private investment firm, today announced that they have completed the previously announced acquisition of the Interconnection products business of Lucent Technologies' Microelectronics Group, a business that makes printed circuit boards and backplanes. Mills & Partners is the management affiliate of Hicks Muse for commercial and industrial acquisitions. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquired unit — which has been renamed Circo Craft Technologies, Inc. and will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of the newly formed holding company Circo Technologies Group, Inc., of St. Louis — is located in Richmond, VA., where the Richmond Works, as the factory is known, employs approximately 2,100 people.

"Hicks Muse and Mills & Partners have an outstanding track record of building the competitiveness and the value of entities they acquire," said Lucent Technologies' Vice President, Systems and Components, William R. Spivey. "We are pleased to be working with them and are pleased that they have indicated their intention to use the Richmond Works and its employees as the cornerstone in building a global printed circuit board and backplane manufacturing business."

James N. Mills, Chairman of Mills & Partners, Inc., said, "We and our colleagues at Hicks Muse regard Lucent's Interconnection business as a great platform for future growth, and believe this transaction will produce a tremendous base for our buy-and-build philosophy."

Jack D. Furst, a Managing Director and Principal of Hicks Muse, said, "Like our recent acquisition of Circo Craft, this transaction reflects our interest in building a major presence in the printed circuit board and backplane business and, more generally, our interest in partnering with large, diversified companies looking to divest operations in ways that will be beneficial for all concerned."

The largest customer of the Richmond Works will continue to be Lucent Technologies, pursuant to a supply agreement executed at the time of closing

Printed circuit boards, also known as printed wiring boards, are rigid boards to which integrated circuits and other electronic components are attached. The boards themselves contain several layers of wiring paths to interconnect these various components. Backplanes function as interconnections between circuit boards within an electronic device.

On October 1, 1996, as previously announced, Hicks Muse and Mills & Partners completed by means of a tender offer the acquisition of Circo Craft Co. Inc., of Montreal, a leading North American manufacturer of advanced printed circuit structures, in a transaction valued at approximately Cdn. $180 million (U.S. $130 million). Circo Craft Co. Inc. is now also a separate subsidiary of Circo Technologies Group.

Since its formation in 1989, Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Incorporated has completed or currently has pending more than 60 transactions with an aggregate capital value in excess of $10 billion. Headquartered in Dallas, the firm also has offices in New York, St. Louis and Mexico City.

Mills & Partners, Inc., founded in 1985 by James N. Mills, has participated in the acquisition and subsequent operation of several commercial and industrial companies controlled by Hicks Muse. Mills & Partners manages various Hicks Muse portfolio companies with total revenues in excess of $2 billion.