JANUARY 3--StockerYale Inc. (Salem, NH;www.stockeryale.com), an independent provider of photonics-based products, is discontinuing efforts toward a definitive agreement to acquire Navitar Inc., a Rochester, NY-based company. Navitar is a manufacturer and supplier of optical lens systems and optical solutions for the machine-vision and biomedical diagnostics industries. In addition, warrants for the purchase of 6,000,000 shares of StockerYale common stock that were previously granted by StockerYale to The Eureka Interactive Fund Limited, an institutional investor managed by Marshall Wace, LLP, were cancelled as a result of the termination of the proposed acquisition of Navitar.
The parties initially announced the proposed acquisition on November 9, 2004, and had signed a nonbinding letter of intent. The proposed transaction was subject, among other things, to the satisfactory completion of due diligence, the execution of a definitive purchase agreement, and the closing of a financing transaction by StockerYale. Mark W. Blodgett, chairman and CEO of StockerYale, stated, "Although we will be open to further discussions with Navitar, we will continue to search for other acquisition candidates that would provide benefits to our customers and increase value to our shareholders."
StockerYale is an independent designer and manufacturer of structured light lasers, light emitting diodes(LEDs), fiberoptic and fluorescent illumination technologies, as well as specialty optical fiber and phase masks for use in a wide range of markets and industries including the machine vision, telecommunications, aerospace, defense and security, utilities, industrial inspection and medical markets. The company serves a widely varied, international customer base and reinvests a significant percentage of its revenues in R&D to meet the future requirements of its customers. StockerYale has offices and subsidiaries in the USA, Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim.
