OCTOBER 27, 2008--SCHOTT (Mainz, Germany; www.schott.com) has acquired a majority interest of 70.8% in Moritex (Tokyo, Japan; www.moritex.co.jp), a publicly held company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. SCHOTT had submitted a tender offer bid for Moritex on Sept. 25, 2008.
"We will leverage our solid majority in the company to increase our cooperation with Moritex, within the scope of our existing business alliance to convince the market and our customers of the success of our partnership by continuing to work towards our common goals," says Prof. Udo Ungeheuer, speaker of SCHOTT's board of management.
SCHOTT manufactures fiberoptic light andimage guides. Moritex manufactures lighting systems based on LED and fiberoptic technology as well as optical imaging systems for industrial image processing (machine-vision systems).
SCHOTT and Moritex signed a letter of intent on strategic cooperation in June 2007 and have been working together on sales, purchasing, and research and development since then. Moritex's technological expertise exists in areas of interest for the markets that SCHOTT addresses, including medical technology, aviation, and automotive industries. SCHOTT brings technological potential in hot forming, fiber drawing, and automated manufacturing processes to the deal.
SCHOTT has been present in the Japanese market for more than 40 years and currently generates 10% of its sales in the nation.
