Hillsboro, OR--Microscopy instrumentation and nanoscale solutions company FEI (Nasdaq:FEIC) acquired TILL Photonics (Munich, Germany) to grow its life sciences portfolio. TILL provides high-resolution digital light microscopes and high-speed imaging systems for live-cell fluorescence microscopy.
"The Life Sciences market is a key growth opportunity for FEI," noted Don Kania, president and CEO of FEI. "With this acquisition, FEI acquires additional key technology for correlative microscopy for cellular biology, which integrates high performance light and electron microscopy. Now we can accelerate the growth of our Life Sciences business, which is an important component of our company-wide plan to double our served available market in the next three years."
"The very open and flexible microscope platforms of TILL are an ideal starting point for correlative microscopy," commented Frank Lison, president of TILL Photonics GmbH. "They will open up new market opportunities for our high-resolution technologies. The strength of FEI will help us to achieve our goals much faster."
TILL was acquired for a purchase price of approximately $20 million dollars, plus an earn-out payable in two years based on attainment of specified milestones. TILL brings FEI revenues of approximately $8 million for calendar year 2011.
The 2000 employees of FEI provide electron- and ion-beam microscopes and solutions for nanoscale applications across many industries: industrial and academic materials research, life sciences, semiconductors, data storage, natural resources, and more. With more than 60 years of technological innovation and leadership, FEI has set the performance standard in transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and DualBeams, which combine a SEM with a focused ion beam (FIB).
SOURCE: FEI; http://investor.fei.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=623457
