Newport Sells Hilger Crystals to Dynasil

Advanced technology products maker Newport Corp. announced Tuesday that it has sold its Hilger Crystals subsidiary to Dynasil Corp. of West Berlin, N.J., for $4 million in cash.

Margate, UK-based Hilger manufactures a variety of synthetic crystals and detectors, imaging arrays and materials, primarily for x-ray detection applications. According to its website, Hilger was founded in 1874 by German precision optical instrument technicians Adam and Otto Hilger and began growing synthetic crystals in the early 1900s. In January 2003, the company became part of Spectra-Physics, then joined Newport when Spectra-Physics was acquired by Newport in 2004. Hilger Crystals' revenues were $2 million in the full year 2009 and $1.5 million in the first half of 2010.

Dynasil makes specialized instruments and products, including handheld instruments for detecting lead in paint, medical probes to reduce the scope of surgery, diffraction gratings for spectrometers to measure chemistry, reflective coatings for solar energy concentrators, and fused silica for laser optics.

“By combining our technical depth in synthetic crystals with Hilger’s highly specialized expertise in the growth and manufacturing of crystals, we can accelerate the commercialization and distribution of our extensive technology portfolio," said Dynasil CEO Craig Dunham. "We expect the acquisition to have a very positive impact on our company’s revenue growth, profitability and earnings per share.”

Under the terms of the deal, if Hilger Crystals achieves certain specified sales targets in the 18 months following the closing, Newport will receive another cash payment totaling as much as $750,000.

Newport said it expects to record a charge in the second quarter of 2010 of approximately $800,000 relating to deal costs and Hilger pension curtailment expenses. In the third quarter of 2010, Newport expects to record a gain on the sale that will be substantially offset by additional charges relating to the termination of Hilger's pension plan.

Dynasil said the entire $4 million was funded using its existing acquisition line of credit with Sovereign/Santander Bank.

For more information, visit: www.newport.com or www.dynasil.com