EXFO sells Life Sciences and Industrial Division to focus on telecom test

Quebec City, QC, Canada--EXFO (NASDAQ: EXFO, TSX: EXF), a provider of test and service assurance solutions for telecommunications wireline and wireless network operators and equipment manufacturers, sold its Life Sciences and Industrial Division to The Riverside Company, a global private equity firm, for $24.3 million in cash. The purchase price is subject to adjustments for minimum working capital requirements.

The Life Sciences and Industrial Division, based in Toronto, ON, Canada, provides solutions in medical device and optoelectronics assembly, fluorescence microscopy, and other life-science sectors. It generated $25.4 million in sales and $4.3 million in earnings from operations for the fiscal year ended August 31, 2010.

The Life Sciences and Industrial Division will be presented as a discontinued operation in EXFO’s fiscal 2010 fourth-quarter and year-end financial results, which will be released after the close of markets on October 12, 2010.

"The creation of the Life Sciences and Industrial Division has served EXFO well over the years with steady sales and earnings, while providing an environment for this division’s staff and management to perform," said Germain Lamonde, EXFO’s chairman, president, and CEO. "The divestiture of this business will enable EXFO to concentrate all its efforts and resources on its core telecom test and service assurance business, while allowing the Life Sciences and Industrial Division to be more strategically developed. EXFO’s exclusive focus on the global telecom industry will benefit customers, employees and shareholders in the long term."

SOURCE: EXFO; www.exfo.com/en/PressRoom/CorporateReleasesView.aspx?Id=486&Cp=Home

Posted by:Gail Overton

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