Pleasanton, Calif. – Adept Technology Inc., a provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and autonomous mobile solutions, has entered into an agreement to acquire privately held InMoTx, a provider of technology for the global food processing market.
With operations based in Denmark, InMoTx enhances Adept's position in the fast-growing food packaging industry through a broad portfolio of intellectual property dedicated to inspecting, sorting, grading, and hygienically packaging unwrapped, natural products, improving food safety by eliminating the risk of contamination introduced by manual handling.
Under the terms of the agreement, Adept will acquire InMotx in a cash and stock transaction valued at up to $4.3 million, which includes $1.5 million in cash, subject to adjustment, 200,000 shares of Adept common stock, and earnout provisions based upon the revenues of the acquired business and related products over the three years following the acquisition. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed by mid-January, 2011. The transaction is expected to be accretive in Adept's fiscal 2012 year.
"With this acquisition, Adept continues to execute on its mission to deliver exceptional value to clients requiring superior levels of flexibility, cleanliness and robustness from primary packaging automation," said John Dulchinos, president and CEO of Adept Technology Inc. "As was the case with Adept's acquisition of MobileRobots, this transaction furthers Adept's strategy to more efficiently transport goods, particularly those in regulated industries, throughout a facility by strengthening the company's ability to automate the handling of products safely and reliably while offering traceability."
At its inception in 2006, InMoTx strategically targeted the food processing markets, where flexible automation had historically been absent in the handling of organic products due to the challenges associated with acquiring natural products. The food manufacturing industry was estimated to have shipped over $538 billion in product and employed 1.5 million people in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Becoming a part of Adept's exacting pursuit of the high-speed packaging market and leveraging their resources and international support infrastructure along with tighter integration of our engineering teams, will accelerate the adoption of InMoTx' technology and deep portfolio of products dedicated to the handling of natural products," said Preben Hjornet, founder and chief technology officer, InMoTx. "In evaluating numerous vehicles to accelerate the expansion of our business, it was immediately apparent that Adept and InMoTx exhibit synergies across the businesses and cultures of strong customer focus."
Upon completion of the acquisition, InMoTx Denmark employees will become part of Adept's team and will work with Adept's existing engineering, operations and service teams in Pleasanton, Calif., Dortmund, Germany, and Singapore. InMoTx' US operations will be consolidated into the Adept Pleasanton headquarters.