Waters Corp. announced the acquisition of privately held Thermometric AB of Jarfalla, Sweden, a manufacturer of high-performance microcalorimeters, for approximately $2.5 million. Waters said it plans to merge the acquired business into its TA Instruments Inc. operation in New Castle, Del. Thermometric has annual sales of approximately $4 million and this transaction is expected to be neutral to Waters 2006 earnings, the company said. Thermometric's flagship product, the TAM III, is a modular calorimeter that employs proprietary technology to deliver what Waters said is unparalleled calorimetric sensitivity and temperature stability. It is routinely used to characterize materials, and their interactions, in the fields of pharmaceuticals and life and materials sciences. Terry Kelly, president of TA Instruments, said in a statement, "The technologies and products from Thermometric are complementary to our leading position in thermal analysis and will allow us to expand our business into new applications, especially in life science research." Waters makes instruments used in liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis, markets that account for approximately $5 billion of the overall $20 billion to $25 billion analytical instrument market.For more information, visit: www.waters.com