Rockwell Collins [COL] on Friday said it has agreed to sell its Kaiser Optical Systems subsidiary to Switzerland’s Endress+Hauser as part of a strategy to focus on growth area in its core markets.
Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Rockwell Collins said the deal is expected to close early in its fiscal year 2014, which begins Oct. 1
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| TacNet Weapon Data Link. Photo: Rockwell Collins |
The Kaiser Optical Systems business, acquired in 2000 as part of Rockwell Collins’ purchase of Kaiser Aerospace and Electronics, makes Raman sensors and instrumentation, advanced holographic components for spectroscopy, telecommunications, astronomy and ultra-fast sciences, and components for aircraft display systems. The products are deployed in applications for defense, pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturing, nanotechnology, telecommunications and education.
“This divestiture is part of an overall strategy to accelerate our focus on growth opportunities in our addressed markets,” Kelly Ortberg, Rockwell Collins’ president and CEO, said in a statement. “Kaiser Optical also benefits by joining an organization that concentrates on the primary industries it serves.”
Kaiser Optical has 60 employees. Rockwell Collins said that the subsidiary, which is part of the avionics business within its Government Systems segment, accounts for less than one percent of the company’s total sales.
The plan to divest Kaiser Optical follows Rockwell Collins’ announcement early last month to acquire ARINC Inc. for $1.4 billion in a deal that significantly expands the company’s business in aviation information management and tilts its total sales in favor of its commercial work. ARINC is a portfolio company of the private equity firm The Carlyle Group.