Credence Systems Corp. Lays Down $35.77 Mil to Buy Offices, Warehouse, Expansion Space

HILLSBORO, OR-Credence Systems Corp. is unquestionably committed to its future in Oregon. Swimming in profits from a wildly successful fiscal 2000, the Fremont, CA-based maker of semiconductor test equipment went on a local buying spree late last year. It scooped up the 183,000-sf of office and warehouse space it was leasing from PacTrust in Five Oaks West, an adjacent 18.4 acres of undeveloped property and, in a separate transaction, another 17.84 acres one-quarter mile down the street.

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.”