VELDHOVEN, the NETHERLANDS -- Assembléon today announced Tonn van de Laar will replace Andre Papoular as chief executive.

This announcement comes on the heels of the recent sale of Assembléon by Royal Philips Electronics to H2 Equity Partners.

In the deal, announced in December, H2 acquired 80% of Assembléon, while Philips maintains a 20% stake.

A partner at H2, Van de Laar, 56, has been CEO for multiple private and publicly held companies. He has an engineering degree from the Technical University of Eindhoven and he started his career at Philips.

In an interview in February with CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY, Papoular indicated H2 had asked management to stay to help with the transition, and that "nothing is planned upfront."

Papoular was named to head Assembléon in January 2009, after a 29-year career in marketing, divestitures and business management at Philips. On his watch, the component placement equipment OEM returned to profitability and revenues grew 90% last year. Papoular likely will return to Philips, an Assembléon spokesman told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY.

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