All told, the company quietly spent $35.77 million on the transactions between late September and early November, according to records provided by Oregon Title Insurance Co. It wasn't until GlobeSt.com started asking around this week that Corporate Property Services principal Tom Hayes, who represented Credence in the transactions, produced a press release--detailing one of the two purchases--that had been signed off on by Credence's director of finance Jeff West but not yet released.

The confidence of its future in Oregon comes from last year's increase in demand for automatic semiconductor testing equipment and related software--Credence's specialty. After several years of generating around $200 million in annual sales, the company in fiscal 2000 (ended Oct. 31, 2000) generated $679.7 million in revenue. As a result, profit totaled $140.4 million as opposed to 1999's $2.5 million loss. "We're clearly not going to triple every year," West tells GlobeSt.com. "But in next up cycle, there will be clearly be a need for expansion."

Meantime, to meet immediate needs, the company also has leased an additional 31,000-sf of warehouse space in the nearby Northern Tier Business Park at 1800 NE 25th. Skip Stanton with HSM Pacific represented Northern Tier Development in the lease, and Grubb & Ellis' Cliff Finnell represented Credence.