VSEA Varian Semiconductor (MM)

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Signet Jewelers Limited (NYSE: SIG) will replace Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates Inc. (NASD: VSEA) in the S&P MidCap 400 index after the close of trading on Thursday, November 10. Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates is being acquired by S&P 500 constituent Applied Materials Inc. (NASD: AMAT) in a deal expected to be completed on or about that date pending final approvals.

S&P Indices will monitor this transaction, and post any relevant updates on its website: www.standardandpoors.com.

Signet Jewelers operates as a specialty jewelry retailer. Headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, the company will be added to the S&P MidCap 400 GICS (Global Industry Classification Standard) Specialty Stores Sub-Industry index.

Following is a summary of the change:

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S&P Indices, a leading brand of the McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), maintains a wide variety of investable and benchmark indices to meet an array of investor needs. Over $1.25 trillion is directly indexed to Standard & Poor's family of indices, which includes the S&P 500, the world's most followed stock market index, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, the S&P Global BMI, an index with approximately 11,000 constituents, the S&P GSCI, the industry's most closely watched commodities index, and the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond Index, the premier investable index for U.S. municipal bonds. For more information, please visit: www.standardandpoors.com/indices.

For more information contact:

David M. Blitzer, Ph.D.

Managing Director & Chairman of the Index Committee

(212) 438-3907

SOURCE S&P Indices