Swiss optics supplier acquires Portland-based Gray Optics
FILE PHOTO / TIM GREENWAY
Gray Optics founder Dan Gray said the acquisition of his company by a Swiss photonics firm will expand the latter’s presence in the U.S. while allowing Gray to retain his team and leverage expanded precision manufacturing capabilities.
The acquisition of Gray Optics in Portland by a Swiss photonics firm expands the latter’s presence in the U.S. while allowing the former to retain its team and leverage expanded precision manufacturing capabilities.
FISBA Group, a developer and producer of optical and illumination systems based in St.Gallen, Switzerland, entered into an agreement to acquire Gray Optics, a developer of precision optical systems.
“The combined capabilities of FISBA and Gray Optics, along with the existing synergies between the companies, offer fantastic value to our customers,” Dan Gray, founder and president of Gray Optics, said in a news release. “This acquisition completes the product development and manufacturing capabilities that we have been building for the past five years in the U.S.”
He added, “I’m excited for the future of our team at Gray Optics and the success of the combined companies.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“Photonics” is a subset of the optics discipline, which covers a range of topics related to the study of light, according to synopsys.com.
Gray Optics
Founded in 2018, Gray Optics develops precision optical systems and early-stage product development for biomedical and industrial applications.
The team consists of engineers, program managers and technicians with years of product development experience.
FISBA, a privately owned company founded in 1957, provides optical design, system engineering, high-precision volume production and advanced optical coating. The company manufactures micro lenses down to 0.3 mm, complex flat optics, precise optical assemblies, advanced optical systems and compact laser modules. FISBA, with 360 employees, focuses on solutions for life sciences, industrial applications and aerospace and defense. It has subsidiaries in Germany, the U.S. and China.
“The acquisition of Gray Optics further enables the expansion of FISBA in North America, leveraging our experience and capabilities in high precision engineered optical systems in our core markets,” said Markus Hersche, FISBA’s CEO.
The deal is expected to close within two months, Gray told Mainebiz.
Gray said he was approached a year ago by the leadership of FISBA’s Tucson, Ariz.-based subsidiary, whom he’s known throughout his career.
With the sale of the business to FISBA, Gray will stay on as vice president of product development and engineering.
“I’m really motivated and excited to continue to grow our team in Portland,” he said. “This is aligned with how we originally wanted to grow and how FISBA is planning to grow into the U.S. It is synergistic and a win-win.”
Gray saw a surge in business with the pandemic. In 2020, he told Mainebiz he doubled his staff that year as demand surged for precision optical components that are an integral part of COVID-19 “point-of-care” tests.
In 2019, he had five employees. Within a year the team was up to 17.
The pace has remained steady since then.
“This is our fifth year of operation,” he said. “We’ve established a customer base and market opportunity and the focus has been on systems and processes to mature and stabilize operations.”
But continuing to grow his company’s capabilities to support customer demand became limited without taking on outside investment, he said.
“There’s an opportunity to significantly expand our capabilities in manufacturing medical devices,” he said. “With FISBA, we get the backing of a bigger company that has the intent of growing and investing in its U.S. operations”
By purchasing Gray Optics, FISBA expands engineering and development skills in North America.
“We expect this acquisition to have an immediate impact on our customers, offering vertically integrated product development and manufacturing capabilities and advanced production technologies to produce the highest quality and highest performance solutions available,” said Wallace Latimer, president of FISBA North America.
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