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INDIANAPOLIS – Private investment firm Berwind Corp. has acquired Specialty Coating Systems from Bunker Hill Capital L.P. for an undisclosed sum.

BRUSSELS – After eight years of study, the European Commission has cleared Tetrabromobisphenol A for use without restriction in the EU. This marks the end of an official risk assessment of TBBPA, a brominated flame retardant used in more than 70% of PCBs.

The EU Risk Assessment evaluated TBBPA for potential risks to human health and the environment. The commission concluded no risk was identified for the reactive use of TBBPA such as in epoxy resins used in printed circuit boards.

JACKSON, MI -- Sparton Corp. will close its Albuquerque, NM, facility by Sept. 30, succumbing to the business climate, offshore competition and volatile market demand.

The 110,000 sq. ft. plant builds assemblies for customers in the industrial markets.

DANBURY, CT -- Praxair Inc. is raising prices for nitrogen and other gases by 10 to 20% for customers in the US, effective July 1, or as contracts permit.

The company said it would raise prices 10% to 20% for nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen, and other gases, and would hike monthly fees up to 15%.

Praxair is a leading supplier of nitrogen in the US.

"These actions are being implemented in response to rapidly escalating energy, fuel, and other operational costs, current supply/demand imbalances, and increases in the cost of capital goods to support customer product supply," the company said in a release.

NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. yesterday reaffirmed its guidance for its fiscal third quarter of $430 million to 450 million in revenue.

The EMS firm also reaffirmed fiscal year revenue growth of 16 to 18%. It added that it would receive an additional $5 million in orders in the fourth quarter from an unnamed defense customers, with potential for $17 million more in fiscal 2009.

The company said has purchased $168 million worth of its own shares as of June 13, with at least $32 million more in buybacks planned.

WYLIE, TX -- Global Innovation, a maker of bare boards and assemblies, reported April quarter revenues of $8.3 million, up 9.2% year-over-year. Net income for the company's fiscal third quarter was flat at $186,594.

Gross profit rose 3.1% to $1.7 million, while gross margins dropped 2.7 points to 19.1%.

WASHINGTON -- The chief executive of Cirrus Electronics has been sentenced to 35 months in jail after pleading guilty to illegally exporting electronics components used in missiles to India.

In return for pleading to exporting the components to Indian government entities, guilty, Parthasarathy Sudarshan will also pay a $60,000 fine. The components are used in ballistic missile guidance systems.

WASHINGTON — Retail sales of consumer electronics and appliances rose 3% year-over-year in the May quarter, up from 1.5% sequentially, according to the US Census Bureau.

Furthermore, North American TV shipments rose 4% during the first quarter, says research firm DisplaySearch, with LCD shipments leading the way, rising 110%.

The JPCA Show is typically not one where many orders are placed on the floor. Rather, specifications are discussed, tires on equipment are kicked, materials are introduced, and the exhibition of evolutionary progressions is the norm. And yet, equipment suppliers were in many cases optimistic.

TOKYO — A 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked Kurihari city, north of Tokyo, on Saturday and led to shutdowns of operations at several electronics makers.

A Fujitsu Ltd. semiconductor factory and certain factories affiliated with Sony were shut down, company officials reported.

FRANKFURT -- May semiconductor sales in Germany were down 19% year-on-year, the Electronics Industry Association (ZVEI) said.

In April and March, sales were down 16% year-on-year, respectively, ZVEI said.

The preliminary book-to-bill ratio in May was 1.01, up from 0.94 in April. The ratio is calculated by the value of orders divided by the value of shipments. A ratio of 1.01 means that for every $100 worth of semiconductors shipped, $101 worth of semiconductors were ordered.

A ratio above 1.0 is considered a sign of expansion.

KUALA LUMPUR – Unisem and its subsidiary Unisem-Advanpack Technologies have entered into an agreement with FlipChip International to license FCI’s wafer bumping and wafer level packaging technologies.

UAT will license FCI’s core technologies, including Spheron, and FCI will become a shareholder of UAT.

“This new partnership with FCI will enable Unisem to offer additional cutting-edge wafer bumping and wafer level packaging alternatives to our customers,” said S.C. Lau, general manager of UAT. “FCI is providing all necessary documentation, training and engineering support for a fast ramp of its wafer bumping and wafer-level packaging technologies, which will be quickly integrated into our existing full production environment.”