Bruker
Corporation (NASDAQ: BRKR) today announces the signing of an agreement to
acquire the Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) and Optical Industrial Metrology
(OIM) instruments business from Veeco Instruments, Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) for $229
million in cash. The transaction has been approved by the Boards of Directors of
both companies and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2010,
pending regulatory review and subject to customary closing conditions.
The worldwide SPM and OIM instruments business to be acquired by Bruker from
Veeco consists of the industry leading SPM instruments business, headquartered
in Santa Barbara, California, and leading OIM product lines developed in Tucson,
Arizona, as well as Veeco's associated global SPM/OIM field sales and support
organization.
The combined SPM and OIM instruments business is forecasted to contribute
revenues of greater than $130 million, and adjusted operating margins (excluding
related acquisition, restructuring, relocation and non-cash intangible
amortization expenses) of greater than 15% to Bruker in the year 2011. The Veeco
SPM and OIM instruments business in 2009 geographically derived its revenues
approximately 38% from Asia-Pacific, 31% from the Americas, and 31% from Europe,
and in terms of customer type approximately 45% from applied/industrial
customers and 55% from academic/government customers. Bruker estimates that the
acquisition will be two to four cents accretive to 2011 GAAP EPS, and six to
eight cents accretive to 2011 adjusted EPS.
After the closing of the acquisition, Bruker intends to continue to operate
the SPM and OIM instruments business in California and Arizona. Bruker expects
to retain the vast majority of the present SPM and OIM business management,
operations, research and development, sales and marketing, as well as global
applications and service personnel, and to integrate the SPM and OIM division's
international field sales and support staff with Bruker's existing country sales
offices, applications laboratories and service centers worldwide.
Bruker today offers a broad range of high-performance X-Ray diffraction,
X-Ray fluorescence and X-Ray microanalysis systems, as well as EDS and EBSD
analyzer accessories for electron microscopes for materials, life-science and
nanotechnology research and analysis. The Veeco SPM and OIM instruments are
highly complementary to Bruker's products, and the combined product portfolio is
expected to make Bruker a global leader in materials research and nanotechnology
analysis instrumentation.
Frank H. Laukien, Bruker President and CEO, commented: "Veeco's SPM and OIM
systems fit perfectly into Bruker's high-performance scientific instruments
strategy, and are highly complementary to our existing product portfolio. We
believe that this acquisition will expand the total addressable market segments
for our materials and nanotechnology research and analysis systems to over two
billion dollars annually. Moreover, we believe this acquisition represents an
excellent opportunity for Bruker to deploy its strong balance sheet, and we
expect the acquisition to be accretive to both our GAAP and adjusted EPS in
2011."
Dr. Laukien continued: "We are very impressed by the recent turnaround in the
Veeco SPM and OIM instruments business, which was accomplished primarily through
significant investment in research and development, and a drive for operational
excellence and margin improvement. This successful initiative has resulted in an
impressive array of novel, proprietary technologies and innovative,
customer-oriented products in the last two years. We are looking forward to
having the capable SPM and OIM instrument teams in California, Arizona and in
the international field organization join Bruker after the closing. Most
importantly, we are looking forward to welcoming the customers of the present
Veeco SPM and OIM products to Bruker. We are very committed to providing the
highest level of applications support and technical service, as well as
continued applications and product development to this customer base."
John Peeler, Chief Executive Officer of Veeco, stated "The agreement to sell
the SPM and OIM instruments division to Bruker will allow Veeco to focus on
further expanding our LED, solar and data storage Process Equipment businesses.
We are pleased that Bruker, one of the world's leading scientific instruments
companies, will continue our SPM and OIM instruments businesses with a strong
commitment to customer support and innovation."