MEMC Announces Plan To Declassify Board of Directors

ST. PETERS, Mo., Dec. 4, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc. (NYSE: WFR) today announced that its board of directors has voted to include in the company's proxy statement for its 2013 annual meeting of stockholders a management proposal to eliminate the Company's classified board structure.   

The board will recommend that stockholders approve an amendment to the Company's certificate of incorporation to eliminate the classified structure.  If approved, directors would be elected to one-year terms as their existing terms expire, beginning with the class of directors elected at the Company's 2014 annual meeting of stockholders.  The full text of the proposal will be included in the Company's proxy statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the spring. 

"The classified board structure at MEMC has been in place since the Company's initial public offering in 1995.  While we believe our stockholders have benefited from having a classified board and continue to believe that there are good reasons to retain it, we accept that at the 2012 annual meeting, our stockholders approved a nonbinding shareholder proposal that the MEMC board take steps to declassify the board.  Our decision today is responsive to that recommendation," commented John Marren, chairman of the MEMC board of directors. 

About MEMC

MEMC is a global leader in semiconductor and solar technology.  MEMC has been a pioneer in the design and development of silicon wafer technologies for over 50 years.  With R&D and manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, MEMC enables the next generation of high performance semiconductor devices and solar cells.  Through its SunEdison subsidiary, MEMC is also a developer of solar power projects and a worldwide leader in solar energy services.  MEMC's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "WFR."  For more information about MEMC, please visit www.memc.com.

SOURCE MEMC Electronic Materials, Inc.