Sipex Announces Results Of Special Meeting Of Stockholders, Approves Merger With Exar Corp.

Sipex Corp. announced that, at a special meeting of the company’s stockholders, the merger agreement previously announced among Sipex and Exar Corp. was adopted. Preliminary results indicate that more than 70% of the Sipex shares outstanding on the record date for the Sipex special meeting were cast in favor of the adoption the merger agreement, representing over 99% of the votes cast at the meeting.

"Today’s decisive vote marks the creation of an exciting opportunity for the combined enterprise that we expect to fully leverage," said Ralph Schmitt, CEO of Sipex. "Moving forward, we will execute on our integration plans rapidly and, during the transition, continue to provide our customers with innovative products with a clear commitment to delivering service and support excellence."

"I look forward to working with Ralph and the new management team as they drive Exar with expanded capabilities and scale to the next level," said Richard L. Leza, Chairman of the Board of Exar. "Over time, we firmly believe that this transaction will serve as the foundation for increased shareholder value."

On May 8, 2007, Sipex and Exar announced the signing of the merger agreement under which a wholly owned subsidiary of Exar will merge with and into Sipex and Sipex will continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of Exar. Approval of the merger agreement by Sipex’s stockholders satisfies one of the conditions to the completion of the merger.