SOITEC : Changes to Soitec's governance organization

Changes to Soitec's governance organization

Dissociation of the duties of the Chairman of the Board of Directors
and those of the Chief Executive Officer

• Victoire de Margerie has been elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Paul Boudre remains in charge of executive management of the Company as Chief Executive Officer

Bernin (Grenoble), France, July 27, 2017 - The Board of Directors of Soitec (Euronext Paris), a world leader in designing and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials, today announces that the duties of the Chairman of the Board of Directors have been split from those of the Chief Executive Officer, as of its meeting on July 26, 2017, in line with the decision on May 2, 2017.

Victoire de Margerie has been elected as Chairman of Soitec's Board of Directors. Paul Boudre, who has held the positions of both Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since September 2015 to turn around the Company', remains in charge of executive management of the Company as Chief Executive Officer. Soitec is thus adopting a new governance organization in line with best practice.           

The Board of Directors is delighted to welcome Victoire de Margerie as an independent director to act as Chairman and lead its works. Victoire de Margerie, a well-known industry leader, will provide the experience she has gained as a director of various high-profile groups.       

Paul Boudre remains entirely focused on developing the business and running operations to capture the electronics markets growth and keep the momentum of Soitec's restored profitability going.

The Board of Directors wishes to congratulate Paul Boudre for the governance improvements made over the past two years of transition under his leadership.  

The Board's decision to elect Victoire de Margerie as Chairman was subject her prior appointment as a director. Such appointment has been approved by the Shareholders during their General Meeting held on July 26, 2017.   

Victoire de Margerie replaces Joseph Martin as a director, who was not seeking reappointment after his term of office ended at the close of the Shareholders' Meeting held on July 26, 2017. During its meeting on the same day, the Board of Directors sincerely thanked Joseph Martin for his contribution to the Board's activities during his 13-year term of office.

Victoire de Margerie's appointment increases the number of women on Soitec's Board of Directors to 6 out of a total of 13 directors, representing a 46.15% proportion.

Career bio of Victoire de Margerie

Victoire de Margerie is a well-known industry leader. She has held various executive positions in France, Germany and the United States in the materials industry (Atochem, now ArkEma from 1987 to 1995, Carnaud MetalBox, now Crown Cork & Seal from 1995 to 1997, and Pechiney, now Rio Tinto Alcan, from 1998 to 2003). From 2003 to 2011, she was Professor of Strategy at Grenoble School of Management.

Victoire chairs Rondol Industrie since 2012 and is also its main shareholder. Since 2015, she is Vice Chairman of the World Materials Forum that brings together, once a year in Nancy, Chairmen, Chief Executive Officers and key opinion leaders of the global materials industry all along the value chain from mining to key applications and their end of life recycling. She is also currently a member of the Supervisory Board of Eurazeo (since 2012) and a director of ArkEma (also since 2012) and of British engineering group Babcock International (since 2016).

Victoire is a graduate of the HEC Paris business school (1983) and of Paris Institute for Political Studies (IEP) (1986). She also holds a PhD in Management Science from Université de Paris II, Panthéon Assas (2007).

About Soitec

Soitec (Euronext, Tech 40 Paris) is a world leader in designing and manufacturing innovative semiconductor materials. The company uses its unique technologies and semiconductor expertise to serve the electronics markets. With more than 3,000 patents worldwide, Soitec's strategy is based on disruptive innovation to answer its customers' needs for high performance, energy efficiency and cost competitiveness. Soitec has manufacturing facilities, R&D centers and offices in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.

Soitec and Smart Cut are registered trademarks of Soitec.

For more information, please visit www.soitec.com and follow us on Twitter: @Soitec_EN

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