Zygo (Middlefield, CT) has signed a letter of intent to buy Firefly Technologies (Holliston, MA) in a stock transaction valued at approximately $100 million. Firefly makes process measurement equipment for the telecommunications and optical-data-storage markets. Under the terms of the letter of intent, Zygo will issue approximately 2.3 million shares of its common stock in exchange for outstanding capital stock. The deal should close in the second quarter of 2000.
As a result of the merger, Firefly will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Zygo and become the foundation of a new division to be named Zygo TeraOptix. Firefly makes heads and related products for the optical storage industry, but its greatest value in the current market comes from its manufacture of metrology equipment, micro-optics, switches, and filters for telecommunications. Its revenue for the year ended December 31, 1999, was approximately $3.1 million.—W. Conard Holton