For Immediate Release Contact: Jeremy Milner
401-862-9422
jeremy@jeremymilner.com

Courtney Chandler
617-375-4217
courtney@revolutionpartners.com
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Cree Announces Exercise of Underwriters’ Overallotment Option

 DURHAM, N.C., September 17, 2009 – Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), today announced that the underwriters of its recent public offering of common stock have fully exercised their overallotment option resulting in the issuance of an additional 1,650,000 shares. The option was granted in connection with the public offering of 11,000,000 shares of common stock at a public offering price of $35.50 per share, which closed on September 16, 2009.

The exercise of the overallotment option brings the expected total net proceeds of the public offering to $434.1 million, after deducting offering expenses and underwriting discounts and commissions payable by Cree. Cree intends to use the proceeds from the offering for anticipated capital expenditures of approximately $150 million in fiscal year 2010 and additional future capital expenditure needs with the remainder being used for general corporate purposes, including working capital and potential strategic investments.

J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. was the sole book-running manager for the offering, BofA Merrill Lynch was the lead manager, and Piper Jaffray, Morgan Keegan, Oppenheimer and America’s Growth Capital acted as co-managers.
This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. This offering has been conducted solely by means of a prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus. A copy of the final prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering of common stock can be obtained by contacting J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., National Statement Processing, Prospectus Library, 4 Chase Metrotech Center, CS Level, Brooklyn, NY 11245, (718) 242-8002. An effective registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Cree, Inc.
Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and setting the stage to obsolete the incandescent light bulb through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting solutions, and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. Cree solutions are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, variable-speed motors, and wireless communications.

Forward Looking Statements:
This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results, including with respect to our targets and prospects, could differ materially due to a number of factors, including current uncertainty in global economic conditions that could negatively affect product demand, collectability of receivables and other related matters as consumers and businesses may defer purchases or payments, or default on payments, in response to tighter credit and negative financial news; our ability to complete development and commercialization of products under development, such as our pipeline of brighter LED chips, LED components and LED lighting retrofit solutions; our ability to lower costs; increasing price competition in key markets; the risk that, due to the complexity of our manufacturing processes and transition of production to larger wafers, we may experience production delays that preclude us from shipping sufficient quantities to meet customer orders or that result in higher production costs and lower margins; risks associated with the ramp-up of our production for our new products, as well as production at our Huizhou facility and subcontractors; risks resulting from the concentration of our business among few customers, including the risk that customers may reduce or cancel orders or fail to honor purchase commitments; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render our products obsolete; the potential lack of customer acceptance for our products; risks associated with our recent acquisitions; risks associated with ongoing litigation; and other factors discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 28, 2009, and subsequent reports filed with the SEC. Except as required under the U.S. federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the SEC, Cree disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, developments, changes in assumptions or otherwise.


Revolution Partners, a division of Morgan Keegan, is one of the nation's largest middle market investment banks specializing in mergers and acquisitions, private capital advisory and complete public equity capital markets services for the technology industry. Revolution Partners is highly-regarded for its expertise in particular technology niches including software, Internet business services, telecommunications, wireless, clean tech, digital media, storage and semiconductors.

Revolution Partners was founded in 2001 by former senior technology bankers from major Wall Street investment banks. The firm's bankers have executed M&A transactions exceeding $10 billion in value over the course of their careers, including some of the most successful mergers in the industry. The partners also have raised over $6 billion of private capital for more than 100 clients. Today, with offices in Boston, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco, Revolution Partners continues to apply its partner-level experience to the successful execution of advisory and financing transactions for emerging technology companies.

In 2008 Revolution Partners was acquired by Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. whose investment banking, brokerage and asset management capabilities are delivered by 4,400 employees from 300 offices. The firm is a subsidiary of Regions Financial (NYSE: RF), one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services. Together with Morgan Keegan, Revolution shares an entrepreneurial culture and commitment to high-quality transaction execution led by experienced senior bankers. For more information, visit www.revolutionpartners.com.

 

 
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