Quantel Buys WaveLight Unit

Optical laser manufacturer WaveLight AG announced today it has sold its WaveLight Aesthetics GmbH spinoff to solid-state laser maker Quantel SA for as much as €6.1 million (about $8.5 million).

Under the agreement, Wavelight will receive an initial payment of €4.6 million ($6.4 million) in cash, with a remaining payment of up to €1.5 million ($2 million) tied to the aesthetic business' future performance. Atlas Laser Sarl, a wholly owned subsidiary of Les Ulis, France-based Quantel, is listed as the purchaser.

WaveLight and WaveLight Aesthetics, which was spun off in April 2006, are both based in Erlangen. WaveLight said the sale of its aesthetics business will allow the company to concentrate on its core business, lasers for the opthalmology market, specifically lasers for refractive and intraocular surgery. As part of this effort, WaveLight disposed of its urology division at the end of its last fiscal year and divested its industrial lasers division at the end of October 2006.

In a press release issued earlier this month, Quantel said WaveLight Aesthetics, which specializes in lasers for hair removal, vascular problems, tattoo removal and ablative applications such as skin resurfacing, will be combined with the dermatology activities of its medical division, Quantel Medical, to form a new dermatology division within Quantel Group.

Quantel said it expects WaveLight Aesthetic's management team to remain, and for the new dermatology division to reach more than €20 million ($29 million) in sales for 2008.

Also as part of the sale agreement, WaveLight AG will manufacture aesthetics systems for the French company for a period of 12 to 18 months.

WaveLight said the sale price of the business was lower than it had forecast, and will result in extraordinary expenses listed as a one-time expense in its 2006-2007 financial statements, which are still being audited.

In other WaveLight news, Alcon announced yesterday it now has a 70 percent stake in the company. The Switzerland-based eye-care products manufacturer announced in July it was merging with WaveLight in a "friendly takeover." (See "Alcon Acquiring WaveLight")

For more information, visit: www.wavelight-laser.com