Coherent Acquires DeMaria

A $22.5 million cash deal brings DeMaria ElectroOptics Systems Inc. and its CO₂ laser technology into the Coherent Inc. fold.

Coherent officials said they expected the deal to close in April. The DeMaria facility will continue to operate in Bloomfield, Conn., as part of Coherent's Photonics Group, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif.

DeMaria has been a designer and manufacturer of CO₂ lasers for industrial and research applications since it spun out of United Technologies Corp. in 1994. Its technology specialization has been in the area of radio-frequency-excited CO₂ waveguide lasers and far-IR lasers. The company's 2000 sales totaled about $13.2 million.