USA: X-Rite Buys German Color & Light Measurement Systems Developer

X-Rite, Incorporated (NASDAQ:XRIT), a global provider of technology solutions that measure color and light, today announced that it has acquired the assets of Optronik GmbH, an important German provider of color and light measurement instrumentation and software. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.Headquartered in Berlin, Germany, Optronik GmbH was founded in 1968 by Dr Johannes Fleischer, the company's sole shareholder and managing director. Dr Fleischer will remain with the company for the foreseeable future, overseeing research and development, and the respected Optronik name will be retained.The company's strength is online color and light measurement. The non-contact, online color technology is applied to web-based processes. The light measurement product line precisely measures the light output of the most sophisticated high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps produced today. In addition, they have a line of laboratory products, including integrating sphere systems for light measurement. The company holds twelve European patents and had sales of 5.8 million DM in 1999, or $2.6 million U.S. dollars at current exchange rates.This establishes X-Rite's first research and development site in Europe. In addition, the manufacturing capability of Optronik will provide X-Rite with an ability to manufacture in Europe, which provides 20 percent of X-Rite total revenues."This acquisition is a perfect fit for X-Rite," according to Rich Cook, President and CEO of X-Rite, Incorporated. "Optronik's online color measurement systems immediately provide new market opportunities with many global customers. And, we now have two new technologies, non-contact measurement for web-based processes and goniometry for light measurement. Finally, we can now develop and manufacture on two continents. As much of Optronik's sales are in Germany, we expect to leverage our worldwide distribution network, selling their products globally."