I had the pleasure of working with Claire for approximately 10 years while serving as CEO of Nanometrics. During that time, she headed up our investor relations (IR) and strategic financial communications activities, played a key role in executing a significant equity raise for the company, and served as a vital team member in a variety of M&A efforts. Claire’s primary strength is her ability to understand and relate to both sides of any buy or sell engagement, which helped guide us through several successful transactions. She was highly regarded by the Nanometrics executive team, our Board of Directors, our shareholders, and the financial institutions we worked with on a regular basis, and contributed immensely valuable insights related to the company’s capital formation and capital allocation decisions.
Dr. Timothy J. Stultz
CEO of Nanometrics, 2007-2017
Transaction Experience
2026
Equity
$201,000,000
Deal Team & Syndicate Optimization for Follow-on Equity Offering
2025
M&A
$93,000,000
Acquisition of Infineon’s Fab 25
2024
Equity
$144,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2021
M&A
$70,000,000
Sale of Photonics business to EOTECH
2021
M&A
$270,000,000
Acquisition of IMG
2020
Equity
$146,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2019-2020
Excess Cash Deployment
Top 25 Investor Survey on Capital Deployment Priorities
2020
M&A
Acquisition of CR Machine (Mexico operation)
2019
M&A
$1,700,000,000
Merger with Rudolph to become ONTO
2019
M&A
Acquisition of Flow Control IP
2018-2019
Buybacks
$100,000,000
Multiple Stock Repurchase Programs
2017-2018
Buybacks
$50,000,000
Multiple Stock Repurchase Programs
2018
Equity
$102,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2018
M&A
$7,000,000
Acquisition of IAN Engineering
2018
M&A
$40,000,000
Acquisition of 4D Technology
2018
Equity
$95,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2017
M&A
$130,000,000
Acquisition of Talon
2017
Buybacks
$130,000,000
Multiple Stock Repurchase Programs
2017
M&A
$50,000,000
Acquisition of Cal-Weld
2016
M&A
$1,000,000,000
IR Messaging for Newport Acquisition
2016
Equity
$50,000,000
IPO
2011-2015
Buybacks
$200,000,000
Multiple Stock Repurchase Programs
2014
M&A
$87,000,000
IR Messaging for Granville-Phillips Acquisition
2013
Buybacks
$30,000,000
Stock Repurchase Program
2012
Buybacks
$20,000,000
Stock Repurchase Program
2011-2012
Excess Cash Deployment
Top 25 Investor Survey on Capital Deployment Priorities
2011
M&A
$12,000,000
Acquisition of Solar Implant Technologies
2011
M&A
$23,000,000
Acquisition of Nanda Technology
2010
M&A
Sale to AMETEK
2010
Buybacks
$10,000,000
Stock Repurchase Program
2009
Equity
$40,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2009
Equity
$34,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2009
M&A
$8,000,000
Acquisition of Zygo Semi. Solutions
2008
M&A
$15,000,000
Acquisition of Oerlikon HDD business
2008
Debt
$30,000,000
Convertible Debt Refinancing
2008
M&A
$3,500,000
Acquisition of Tevet
2007
M&A
$6,000,000
Acquisition of Creative Display Solutions
2007
M&A
Divestiture of CD-SEM & DiVA product lines
2006
M&A
$36,000,000
Acquisition of Si Automation
2006
M&A
$55,000,000
Acquisition of Accent Optical
2006
M&A
$7,000,000
Acquisition of Soluris
2005
Equity
$7,000,000
Private Placement
2005
Equity
$17,000,000
Private Placement
2004
Equity
$38,500,000
IPO
2004
Equity
$1,800,000,000
IPO
2003
Equity
$112,125,000
IPO
2003
M&A
$10,000,000
Sale to Applied Materials
2003
M&A
$27,000,000
Sale to Inficon
2002
Equity
$105,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2002
Equity
$13,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2001
M&A
$39,000,000
Sale to Brooks Automation
2001
Equity
$157,500,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2001
Debt
$10,000,000
Convertible Debt (Preferred Stock) Offering
2001
Equity
$75,900,000
IPO
2000
Equity
$280,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$1,291,500,000
U.S. IPO
2000
Equity
$276,000,000
U.S. IPO
2000
Equity
$140,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$255,000,000
IPO
2000
Equity
$86,650,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$284,050,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$127,500,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$75,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$178,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$110,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
2000
Equity
$575,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1999
M&A
$161,000,000
Sale to Applied Materials
1999
M&A
$36,000,000
Sale to Steag
1999
Equity
$1,010,000,000
IPO
1999
Equity
$27,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1999
Equity
$5,000,000
Private Placement
1999
Equity
$24,200,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1999
Equity
$185,900,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1999
Equity
$66,000,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1997
Equity
$48,600,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1997
Equity
$40,500,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1997
Equity
$26,910,000
IPO
1996
Equity
$46,125,000
Follow-on Equity Offering
1995
Equity
$40,800,000
IPO
1995
Equity
$36,562,500
Private Placement
1995
Equity
$12,000,000
Private Placement
1994
Equity
$40,500,000
IPO
Claire’s Bio
Claire McAdams launched Headgate Partners in 2005 after a successful career as a senior investment banker. Through Headgate, Claire has developed a platform that enables her to serve on up to three management teams concurrently as Capital Markets and M&A Strategist — a position she has held with just five companies in 20 years, with an average tenure of over 10 years. Claire also has served as Executive Advisor with an additional 13 companies since 2005, in matters including capital formation and capital allocation; corporate finance and M&A strategy; shareholder advisory and activist defense; SEC reporting, audit and compensation committee advisory; and investor relations and strategic financial communications. Claire has dedicated the vast majority of her 30-year career to the global semiconductor and electronics manufacturing ecosystem, and is an expert on the wafer fab equipment (WFE) and hard disk drive (HDD) industries, in addition to being a qualified financial expert. In 2009, Claire founded (and has served as co-chair of) CEO Summit investor events, one of the most successful platforms bringing together small- and mid-cap investors and analysts with some of the most transformative companies in the industry. Claire has executed over 80 financings, M&A transactions, and stock repurchase programs, together totaling nearly $13B in value for her Headgate companies and investment banking clients.