SiliconBeat

Asyst Technologies, the Fremont maker of automation equipment for the semiconductor and flat panel display industries, pulled the plug on its talks with Aquest Systems, the company run by a former Asyst CEO that offered to buy Asyst for $6.50 a share back in July, saying Aquest “has been unable to assemble and submit a transaction proposal”.

Here’s what Asyst’s chief executive said in a letter to Mihir Parikh, chief of Aquest, and Scott Honour, senior managing director of an investment firm pledged to help finance the acquisition:

We met with you in July to discuss your continued interest in acquiring Asyst. Beginning in August, we engaged in significant financial and operating due diligence concerning Asyst (including providing detailed financial forecasts, product line and business unit information, management presentations and follow-on Q&A), pursuant to the diligence plan and process agreed under the Confidentiality Agreement and related exhibits dated August 20, 2008.

Under that agreement, you initially committed to submit a detailed non-binding transaction proposal to Asyst no later than September 12, 2008. In your letter of September 11, you requested more time to assemble a proposal. In response, we extended the time frame for submitting a proposal to September 26, 2008. However, we understand that you have not been able to assemble and identify a specific purchasing group, transaction structure and funding sources, and that you are unable to submit a proposal.

Asyst used its press release disclosing its withdrawal from negotiations to announce that it booked new orders in its most recent quarter totaling some $110 million, up from $63 million in the previous quarter. What’s more, during the first week of its current quarter the company received “additional orders totaling approximately $30 million related to the first phase of a new semiconductor fab in Asia”, and expects to receive revenue from the deal over “the next several quarters.”