SiliconBeat

Asyst Technologies, the Fremont chip-making equipment manufacturer, said that it received word that a hedge fund run by Bryant Riley intends to nominate its own slate of six directors to “in an attempt to gain control of Asyst’s Board of Directors,” according to a press release put out by Asyst Wednesday afternoon. If elected, the new directors “intend to sell (Asyst) through an auction process” according to the release.

The Riley Investment Partners Master Fund, in conjunction with “related parties”, claims to own 2.6 percent of Asyst’s shares, according to the release, which would make it Asyst’s eighth largest shareholder.

Riley is an investor in several other Silicon Valley companies, including Alliance Semiconductor, Centillium Communications, and Integrated Silicon Solutions.

Asyst’s sales for its fiscal year ended March 31 fell by $35.2 million, or 7.2 percent, from the year before to $457.2 million amid a worldwide slowdown in sales of chip-manufacturing equipment. Earlier this week another valley company in that sector, Credence Systems, announced its intent to merge with LTX.

We posted about Asyst in February when it disclosed rejecting “expressions of interest” it had received from, among others, Aquest Systems, a company headed by Mihir Parikh, an Asyst founder and former chief executive who in 2003 alleged wrongful termination from the company and discrimination “based on age, race and national origin,” as well as fraud, deceit, and defamation.