Halma in bolt-on acquisition

22nd Jan 2010 07:02

Acquisitive electronic sensors company Halma has beefed up its presence in the photonics market through the purchase of a US manufacturer of precision products for use in light metrology applications.The company is paying $2.5m (£1.5m) for SphereOptics, a company based in New Hampshire, that had revenues of $4.3m (£2.6m) in 2009.At the end of 2009 SphereOptics had gross assets of $1.8m (£1.1m).The company will be merged with Labsphere, another New Hampshire based company, within Halma’s Health and Analysis division. Labsphere is a photonics company, specialising in light measurement, sensor calibration and spectroscopy.The purchase price could rise by a further $3.5m (£2.1m) depending on profitability in the period up to March 2012.‘The combination of SphereOptics and Labsphere further strengthens our position as a market leader in light metrology and continues our strategy of increasing our presence within the growing Photonics market sector,’ said Halma’s chief executive Andrew Williams.