Volcano Corporation (San Diego, CA), developer of products for the diagnosis and treatment of coronary and peripheral artery disease, entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Axsun Technologies (Billerica, MA), a privately held company that develops lasers and optical engines used in optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging systems and photonic components and subsystems used in other industrial applications.
Axsun currently has development partnerships with companies serving the cardiology and dental markets and expects the launch of the first medical imaging systems utilizing its technology during the first half of 2009. Volcano said it plans to utilize new integrated versions of Axsun's advanced tunable laser and optical engine technology in the development of certain new OCT imaging systems. Axsun also offers devices for industrial applications and the telecommunications network sector, where it has an estimated 50% share of the high-performance segment of the optical monitoring market. The company has more than 90 U.S. patents issued, with another 40 pending, and has approximately 85 employees, and recorded revenues from continuing operations in excess of $18 million in calendar 2007.
Under terms of the acquisition agreement, Volcano will pay approximately $21.5 million in cash at closing; Axsun will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Volcano.
"Axsun is another complementary and important transaction for Volcano as it provides us proprietary OCT technology that we believe will both accelerate our OCT product development efforts and provide us significant and sustainable competitive advantages in the invasive imaging arena," said Scott Huennekens, president and CEO of Volcano. "The industrial/communications segment of the business is run by a highly competent and experienced team within Axsun and we expect that it will continue to flourish and provide the overall organization with operational leverage," Huennekens added.
Axsun's technology and laser components allow for dramatic imaging performance improvements in equipment form factors as small as 1/1000th the size of current laser components at very low manufacturing costs.
Dale Flanders, president and CEO of Axsun said, "Axsun has developed an entirely new class of tunable optical engines based upon our unique MEMS based technology platform. It is clear that medical imaging represents one of the largest growth markets in which to fully exploit this technology. Our capability of precise imaging is delivered with a level of performance and on a scale of miniaturization and at a cost that should enable significant expansion of varied market opportunities in a number of medical specialties. We are also pleased to merge with a company with the resources and managerial strength of Volcano to help us build on our leadership position in the communications and industrial spectroscopy markets."
For more information, go to www.axsun.com or www.volcanocorp.com.
