Cognex Corporation acquires DVT

MAY 10--Cognex Corporation (Natick, MA;www.cognex.com), a supplier of machine-vision systems, has acquired DVT Corporation, a privately held company based in Duluth, GA. Under the terms of the acquisition, Cognex purchased all of the outstanding shares of DVT for approximately $115,000,000, consisting of a cash payment of $104 million made at the closing and a final payment of up to an additional $11 million in cash to be paid at the end of a one-year escrow period. The acquisition was completed on May 9. Cognex plans to maintain operations at DVT's current facility in Georgia and to continue selling and supporting DVT's vision products through DVT's existing third-party distribution channel.

DVT Corporation is a provider of low-cost, easy-to-use vision sensors, which it sells primarily to the fast-growing factory-floor segment of the machine vision business. The company's principal product, Legend, is used for applications such as inspection and quality control.

As a result of the acquisition, Cognex expects an increase in its revenue of approximately $15 million--$20 million during FY 2005. The acquisition is expected to be neutral to earnings in 2005, and accretive, even including acquisition charges, in FY2006. Due to the late timing of the transaction, Cognex expects the acquisition to have minimal impact on its second-quarter results.