by 
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.– Arrow Electronics, Inc. (NYSE:ARW) announced today that it has entered into a Settlement Agreement with E.ON SE (EOAN:GR) and VEBA Electronics LLC relating to certain disputes originating from Arrow’s acquisition of Wyle Electronics from the VEBA Group in August of 2000. Under the Settlement Agreement, E.ON will pay Arrow an aggregate amount of $110 million.
The Settlement Agreement provides for, among other things:
The final and irrevocable settlement among Arrow, E.ON and VEBA of all present or future claims relating to or arising out of the Wyle acquisition, including settlement of related income tax disputes; and
The dismissal of all litigation between Arrow, E.ON and VEBA including all claims and counterclaims before the District Court of Frankfurt am Main in Germany, and the termination of a related ongoing mediation proceeding that commenced in December 2009.
Under the Settlement Agreement, Arrow retains the right to past insurance recoveries and any future amounts recovered from pending claims or claims yet to be asserted under any relevant identified or unidentified insurance policies.
Arrow believes that the settlement amount together with any insurance recoveries will be sufficient to cover any potential future costs relating to environmental clean-up activities and any other asserted or unasserted claims related to environmental matters arising out of the Wyle Acquisition, however it is possible unexpected costs beyond those anticipated could occur.
Arrow Electronics (www.arrow.com) is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Arrow serves as a supply channel partner for more than 120,000 original equipment manufacturers, contract manufacturers and commercial customers through a global network of more than 390 locations in 53 countries.
NIce snapshot for the new year. It will be nice to see who are major players in M&A. How Apple as a company contnues or evolves…Intel and ARM etc.
yeah, as world did not end in 2012 so we should start taking and focusing about future AGAIN.
Rich, This may be promising news (or bad) but the forecast numbers don't always play out as predicted. Often, they get revised downward or upward and we end up in . . . ?
What would happen if the POTUS BO doesn't reach an agreement with Congress? Will the exercises that companies were doing of trying to bring industries on-shore be stopped?
It will be interestig year for sure. More jobs will return to USA. Apple, Google and Amazon will be key organization for more innovation and new manufaturing in America.
@hm, true. I had hoped that the economic recovery would be faster. New year will see whether the balance shifts more towards Asia or not.
@_hm,
Be ready for some desappointments. As Bolaji said, “forecast numbers don't always play out as predicted.” But we do hope for the best.
I dont think there will be a huge improvement in the year 2013 but definitely not going. There are things which will help the economy and technology will be involved at a great height for that.
@Hospice: Returning back to home USA is more logical step to me. I have strong feelings that it will work out very good.
I think 2013 will be interesting from the point of view of reverse outsourcing. We will read more announcement of manufacturing returing to West and some future forecasts on both Eastern and Western economy.
“More jobs will return to USA. Apple, Google and Amazon will be key organization for more innovation and new manufaturing in America.”
@_hm: I do agree that more and more manufacturing will shift back to the US. I know about Google which is looking to do that. However, since Apple has outsourced it's production to Foxconn, I don't think it's that easy for Apple to move the manufacturing back to the US. It may take them several years to do that.
What do you guys think about the likely performance of the Chinese Economy in 2013? Will it continue to dominate in the electronics manufacturing area? Or will the rising labor cost and other factors take away the advantage away from China?
TaimoorZ, Certainly. China remains the major manufacturing location for global production of most consumer products. That's unlikely to change in 2013 or the year after and even the following year. A major change such as the one you think might come won't suddenly emerge. If China starts to lose manufacturing contracts it will sneak up on the country and then by the time many realize this is happening it would be almost irreversible.
“It's not for nothing that 2013 is an odd-numbered year”
Ann, I don't think such numerologies have any role in business or market. Market is always volatile due to various factors like disaster, excess/limited production, political instability etc. I personally believe that 2013 will be good for the semiconductor and electronics industry. Atleast am hoping for that.
Bolaji, you are right. Eventhough many of the companies are planning to move to west, the complete migration may take some more time and there is no doubt that China will be the global player for another 3-5 years. But at the same time, there are chances from other countries like India, to emerge as global hubs for OEM and semiconductor.
“I personally believe that 2013 will be good for the semiconductor and electronics industry. Atleast am hoping for that.”
Jacob you're correct, growth is anticipated in the Semiconductor segment and China's medical electronics market will also continue to see growth. Like you mentioned, so will other parts of the electronics markets. On the whole economic growth will continue but slower.
Rich, i think that its a very valid question whether West is suitable for manufacuturing after a decade. I think that Western countries might be more balanced now in their approach as there will be competition from East but let's have more opinions.
@TaimoorZ, China is suppose to grow with 8% (highest in emerging economies). So the expectations are high for a good economic performance. Even if some manufactuing move out of China, the Chinese market will likely absorb some turbulance.
@_hm, Yes 2013 will see more jobs return to the USA. Particularly the electronics and manufacturing sectors are expected to set the pace. However, I don't think it'll be in droves as expected. Bearing in mind, despite rapid wage increases in China, labour cost in china still has an edge over United states/western countries. It will certainly be an interesting year.
I agree china's economic growth in 2013 will still be enviable despite the predicted doom and gloom.
@hash. Era, you're right. In the UK for example, economic growth forecast is below national average. However, in China, India technology has been one of the contributor to the national economy and we'll see this trend continue in 2013.
>>Supernatural Semiconductors<
It always seems like we are 4 years away from recover but we never seem to get there. Roll on 2016,
@flyingscot I know what you mean. And by the time 2016 rolls along, we can be told that we were on the way but were derailed by circumstances that had not been anticipated.
“I wouldn't be surprised to see a new website from UBM, called “Supernatural Semiconductors,” or “Technology Numerology.” Well, looks like there'll be no apology for the astrology”
Rich, I don't know in a technological era, whether young generation believes in such super natural things. But old age peoples in most of the Asian countries, still prefers numerology & astrology for analyzing their person life.
Ann, I think in general there would be some growth, but the economic crises in US and EU have its own impact. Most of the major consumers are from these countries.
The one sure thing about predictions is that they will be wrong!
@Rich Oh, I can say that here with tongue-in-cheek, but I couldn't pull off that sort of equivocation as my normal form of communication.
@Jacob I don't buy into astrology, though I have met with a couple of people who do, which surprised me no end. One of them casts horoscopes for couples before she matches them up — and no, she's not from India. Today we try to make predictions based on information, and we call it analytics. That's what is used for everything from weather to financial forecasts. Some even apply to solving crimes.On another board, someone mentioned that a detective series, Numb3rs was devoted to that principle.
Ariella, thanks. That's I mentioned that in technological era all such predictions or forecasting are based on several analytical method and interpretations at various level based on various factors. Nobody is going to believe such blind numerology or astrology.
@Himanshugupta: The expected growth rate seems good but I still feel other factors might come into play during the year which will affect the growth in Chinese economy. One of them is likely to be high labor costs in China and the other the move towards moving manufacturing back in the US.
“If China starts to lose manufacturing contracts it will sneak up on the country and then by the time many realize this is happening it would be almost irreversible.”
@Bolaji: I think China may still get to retain the existing contracts but it may not get a chance to get new ones because of the high labor costs. That would eventually hurt the economy in the long run.
Anna : Definitely it will since the market analysis of the indians are very high compared to others. So they do get in 1st somehow. Anyway this is applicable for technological items only.
Yet it wont be easy Himanshugupta. I think it will be a huge impact for the field definitely.