October 23, 2006, Irvine, CA--Newport Corporation signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Laser Products business of Picarro. The Laser Products business, located in Ottawa, Canada, designs and manufactures solid-state lasers targeted primarily at the life and health sciences and process control markets.
The business will become a part of Newport's Spectra-Physics Lasers Division and is expected to have 2007 sales in the range of $5 million to $7 million. The transaction is expected to close in early November after standard closing conditions are met. Other terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"We are very excited about this acquisition, which will extend our ExcelsiorTM family of products by adding a compact 488 nm solid-state laser with industry-leading performance and reliability," said Robert Deuster, Newport chairman and CEO. "This laser, which has achieved design wins with a number of leading bio-instrumentation companies, will fill a gap in Newport's laser product line for life and health sciences applications."
According to Bill Gignac, president and CEO of Picarro, divesting the laser business allows Picarro to focus its attention and resources on our ultra-trace gas analyzer products.
"These products, based on our cavity ring down technology, have seen a significant increase in interest in the auto emissions, semiconductor process control, atmospheric monitoring and petro-chemical markets," he said