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16 Jul 2008  -  United States

Flow International merger with Omax allowed

Flow International Corporation, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of industrial waterjet machines used for cutting and cleaning applications around the world, announced on July 10, 2008 that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has accepted a consent decree with Flow which will permit the merger of Flow and OMAX Corporation.

“We are very pleased to have accomplished this critical step towards the merger of Flow and OMAX,” said Charley Brown, CEO of Flow. “Management teams of both companies can now focus on completing the definitive merger agreement and the necessary filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction is expected to close during our second fiscal quarter, which ends October 31. We remain tremendously excited about adding the strengths of the OMAX team to our own. OMAX has been singularly focused and successful in the development, marketing and servicing of its OMAX JetMachining Centers, offered for sale through the most efficient distributor channel in the industry both domestically and worldwide. As our plans unfold, customers, distributor associates and team members throughout both Flow and OMAX can look forward to dynamic growth supported by even better products and customer service. Significant elements of this growth will come from the important distribution channel that OMAX has built plus the well respected OMAX brand name and product line up.”

The consent decree provides that Flow will make available to other abrasive waterjet companies royalty-free licenses to OMAX’s U.S. Patents 5,508,596 and 5,892,345, which relate just to the controllers used in waterjet cutting systems. The licenses do not include any transfer of technology, will not cover any other patented equipment or processes owned by Flow or OMAX, do not apply to any intellectual property outside of the US, and expire in only five years.

About Flow International
Flow International Corporation is one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of ultrahigh-pressure waterjet cutting technology to industries including automotive, aerospace, job shop, surface preparation, and more.

About Omax Corporation
OMAX Corporation, headquartered, Kent, Washington, is a privately held firm. OMAX is a leading provider of precision-engineered, computer-controlled, abrasivejet systems for use in the general machine shop and manufacturing environments. The OMAX JetMachining® Centers are sold through a well-established and growing network of distributors. Each distributor has already been successful in sales and service of conventional machine tools and is carefully selected for the ability to provide superior customer service before, during, and after the sale.

Source : Flow International Corporation