Tandberg Data Acquired Sister Company Tandberg Storage

Tandberg Data ASA has made a public offer to acquire all shares of Tandberg Storage ASA. A majority of the shareholders in Tandberg Storage ASA have accepted the offer and the acquisition will be completed in November 2008. Tandberg Storage will continue as a fully owned subsidiary of Tandberg Data ASA.

Comments

Tandberg Storage is the designer and supplier of half-height LTO tape drives to Tandberg Data and other OEMs. They are both Norwegian companies with strong relationships. The devices are manufactured by Lafé Technology Limited in China.

Tandberg Storage was established as an independent company in October 2003, and gained its LTO production license in March 2005. The production and sales of HH LTO tape drives started in April 2005. Its most recent product is the TS1600 – LTO4 (800/80). The company estimates to achieve a 24% market share in LTO drives last year.

Recently, Tandberg Storage signed an agreement with an unknown Japanese partner to run a technology study that may results in future development of very high capacity tape drives.

For 2Q08, Tandberg Storage's operating revenue was 54 MNOK compared to 51 MNOK in 2Q07, gross margins being respectively 15,3% and 19,3% for these two three-month period.