Merix says it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the operations of Eastern Pacific Circuits Limited (EPC), a Hong Kong based supplier of printed circuit boards.

The purchase price is $120 million cash at closing plus earn-out consideration of up to $8.0 million based on calendar 2005 adjusted EBITDA. Merix intends to finance the transaction with a combination of available cash and debt. The transaction is expected to close in June 2005.

The EPC operations include four manufacturing plants in southern China and one in Hong Kong. EPC is a low cost, mid to high volume supplier of printed circuit boards to a global customer base in the high-end computer, communications, consumer, industrial and automotive end markets. EPC operates 869,000 square feet of manufacturing space and has high volume capabilities up to 18 layers. EPC has sales and customer service offices in the U.S., Canada, U.K., China, Singapore and Hong Kong. For the year ended December 31, 2004, EPC's preliminary unaudited sales were $143.0 million and adjusted EBITDA was $14.1 million.

Merix is a manufacturer of technologically advanced, multilayer, rigid printed circuit boards for use in sophisticated electronic equipment. Merix provides high-performance materials, quick-turn prototype, pre-production and volume printed circuit board production to its customers. Principal markets served by Merix include data communications and wireless telecommunications, high-end computing, and test and measurement end markets in the electronics industry.