OCTOBER 14, 2009--Coherent (Santa Clara, CA, USA; www.coherent.com) announced that it has acquired the North American operations of StockerYale (Salem, NH, USA; www.stockeryale.com) in an asset purchase for $15 million dollars in cash. Coherent acquired all the assets and certain operating liabilities of the laser module product line in Montreal, Canada and the specialty fiber product line in Salem, NH.
John Ambroseo, president and CEO of Coherent stated, "In acquiring these two product lines, we gain access to the machine vision market and expand our bioinstrumentation opportunities through the laser diode module business. We also add core fiber technology, which will improve our time to market and enhance both the performance and reliability of our fiber-based product platforms."
As part of the transaction, StockerYale retired its senior debt, totaling $3.6 million, as well as its line of credit for $3.5 million. It will continue to operate both StockerYale Ireland (SYI), which manufacturers LED systems based on its chip-on-board LED technology and Photonic Products, Ltd. (PPL), which distributes premium laser diodes and manufactures custom laser modules. SYI and PPL represented approximately 47% of total Company revenues in 2008.
Mark W. Blodgett, chairman & CEO of StockerYale stated, "This transaction enables us to significantly reduce debt and focus resources on growing both our LED systems and PPL businesses. With increased focus, we are confident that we can improve both growth and profitability of these two businesses."
-- Posted by Conard Holton, Vision Systems Design, www.vision-systems.com