TORONTO -- Coretec Inc. has entered into a nonbinding letter of intent to merge with Unicircuit Inc. in an all stock swap. Coretec, a PCB maker based in Toronto, will issue 6 million common shares in exchange for all of Unicircuit's common shares. Coretec will also issue $3.1 million of a new class of preferred shares in exchange for $3.1 million of preferred shares of Unicircuit as well as assume $3.9 million of Unicircuit's net debt.

The transaction is expected to close by July 31.

"This merger creates opportunities to maximize efficiencies with respect to facility overheads and production. With an estimated capacity of $150 million, the combination of the two companies will provide North American and European electronics OEM and EMS companies with a major alternative for prototype-to-production high reliability PCBs," said Paul Langston, president and CEO of Coretec.

Unicircuit operates plants in Littleton, CO, and Roseville, MN.

"From our discussions with Coretec we have been enticed by the marketing potential of this combination, particularly in light of the fact that our respective customer bases have little overlap. As such, we believe we will be able to achieve a wider and deeper penetration into our mutual account base," said Kerry Bode, president and CEO of Unicircuit. "In addition, the prospects for accessing more meaningful new programs, particularly in the defense sector, are much greater as a combined entity. This merger brings our shareholders a step closer to realizing our strategic objective of playing a leadership role in the North American PCB industry. Coretec has an outstanding executive team that we believe will enable the merged company to more fully and expeditiously realize its potential. Unicircuit is excited about the opportunities that the combined entities bring to our customers, employees and shareholders."

MURRAY HILL, NJ - Is Lucent Technologies readying to cut manufacturing ties with Jabil Circuit?

In a column posted Monday at theStreet.com, a Wall Street newletter, Lucent was said to be preparing to reduce its EMS supply list to two, with Jabil among three EMS companies that stand to be on the outs.

Quoting "people close to Lucent," theStreet.com columnist Scott Moritz wrote that while Lucent declined to comment on any specific changes, the company was looking at its options.

TORONTO - Celestica Inc. has named Craig Muhlhauser president and executive vice president of worldwide sales and business development. Muhlhauser was previously president and chief executive of Exide Technologies. He will lead the EMS maker's global sales and business development effort and drive the growth strategy.

Muhlhauser has over 25 years of sales, marketing and general management experience with GE, United Technologies and Ford. Muhlhauser holds a masters in mechanical engineering and a bachelor's in aerospace engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

"I am very excited to have Craig Muhlhauser join the Celestica team. I had the pleasure of working with Craig at Ford and know him to be an extremely capable, customer-focused senior executive," said Steve Delaney, CEO of Celestica. "Craig's vast sales and marketing expertise, and his creativity in developing integrated offerings, will be a great asset to Celestica and, ultimately, our customers."

In addition to this change, Marvin MaGee, Celestica's former head of worldwide business development has been named executive vice president, worldwide operations. MaGee will be responsible for managing Celestica's global manufacturing network, as well as implementing site-to-site consistency in Lean, Six Sigma, organization capability and customer care.

MaGee joined Celestica's executive team in 1997. Prior to that, he spent 18 years with IBM Canada where he held multiple senior management positions in manufacturing and development. MaGee holds a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the University of New Brunswick and an MBA from McMaster University.

Jaco chairman and chief executive Joel Girsky said, "We are continuing to evolve our 
business model to strengthen our market presence while simultaneously reducing 
all nonessential costs. Our strategy is based on an ongoing focus on our
flat panel display capability, marketing efforts targeted at business in the 
U.S. and the reduction of overhead and costs without impairing our ability to support 
our customers. 

During the quarter, the company reduced SG&A costs 10.3% year-on-year and 8% sequentially.

"Jaco remains focused on capturing U.S. business, and we recently expanded our quote group team" to focus on mid-level contract manufacturers," Girsky said.