Groupe Gorge Finalizes Acquisition of iXblue, Merges it With Subsidiary
A merger agreement led by Groupe Gorge, a French industrial group, will combine advanced navigation, photonics, and maritime autonomy solutions company iXblue with ECA Group, a Groupe Gorge subsidiary that develops solutions for robotics, automation systems, simulation, and industrial processes. Groupe Gorge announced the then-pending business combination in March with its agreement to acquire iXblue. It submitted a nonbinding indicative offer for the acquisition of the company in 2021.
Groupe Gorge has now finalized the acquisition for an enterprise value of €410 million (~$401.41 million).
According to Groupe Gorge, the combined company will employ 1500 people and generate and revenues in over 80 countries. In addition to photonics, it will be active in maritime autonomous robotic systems, particularly for underwater mine-hunting, high-performance inertial navigation solutions, products and equipment for aerospace, and quantum sectors.
The ECA-iXblue group aims to achieve revenues of more than €500 million by 2025-2026. In the immediate term, it will generate annual revenues of €250 million (~$244.9 million). In March, Groupe Gorge said the pending merger placed the value of the combined company at ~€800 million ($783.6 million).
iXblue generated revenues of €28 million (~$27.41 million) in photonics components in 2021. The company manufactures and markets optical components, specialty optical fibers, laser systems, and quantum sensors. In May 2021, iXblue acquired optical components and instruments company Kylia and integrated quantum instruments specialist Muquans.
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Published: September 2022
Glossary
- optical component
- One or more optical elements – typically cemented together - in an optical system that are treated as a single group; e.g., a beamsplitter, or a cemented doublet or triplet.
- optical fiber
- Optical fiber is a thin, flexible, transparent strand or filament made of glass or plastic used for transmitting light signals over long distances with minimal loss of signal quality. It serves as a medium for conveying information in the form of light pulses, typically in the realm of telecommunications, networking, and data transmission.
The core of an optical fiber is the central region through which light travels. It is surrounded by a cladding layer that has a lower refractive index than...
- quantum
- The term quantum refers to the fundamental unit or discrete amount of a physical quantity involved in interactions at the atomic and subatomic scales. It originates from quantum theory, a branch of physics that emerged in the early 20th century to explain phenomena observed on very small scales, where classical physics fails to provide accurate explanations.
In the context of quantum theory, several key concepts are associated with the term quantum:
Quantum mechanics: This is the branch of...
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