TOKYO & SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Rigaku Corp. and Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced an agreement for Rigaku, a privately held scientific instrumentation company headquartered in Tokyo, to acquire Agilent’s X-ray diffraction (XRD) business.
Formerly known as Oxford Diffraction within Varian when that company was acquired by Agilent in 2010, the XRD group is a key manufacturer of single-crystal X-ray instruments for the global chemical crystallography market.
“The acquisition of Agilent’s X-ray crystallography business represents a significant step in the expansion of our single-crystal X-ray business,” said Hikaru Shimura, Rigaku president and CEO. “By combining Agilent’s XRD business with Rigaku’s expertise in protein crystallography, we will be able to leverage the best technologies from both groups to provide our current and future customers with world-class solutions for single-crystal analysis.”
“This agreement is a positive development for the XRD business,” said Patrick Kaltenbach, president, Agilent Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group. “I am confident that Rigaku will provide excellent support to grow the XRD business with complementary technology and the expertise of a highly talented team.”
Rigaku plans to combine XRD with its existing crystallography business to form a new business unit. XRD products will continue to be developed and produced at existing factories in Poland and Japan.
The transaction is expected to be final May 1, 2015, subject to local laws and customary closing conditions. No financial terms were disclosed.
About Rigaku Corporation
Since its inception in Japan in 1951, Rigaku has been at the forefront of analytical and industrial instrumentation technology. Rigaku and its subsidiaries form a global group focused on general-purpose analytical instrumentation and the life sciences. With hundreds of major innovations to their credit, Rigaku companies are world leaders in X-ray spectrometry, X-ray diffraction, non-destructive testing, X-ray microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and optics, as well as small molecule and protein crystallography and semiconductor metrology. Today, Rigaku employs over 1,100 people in the manufacturing, sales and support of its analytical equipment, which is used in more than 70 countries around the world for research, development, and quality assurance activities. Throughout the world, Rigaku continuously promotes partnerships, dialog, and innovation within the global scientific and industrial communities. Information about Rigaku is available at www.rigaku.com.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A), a global leader in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets, is the premier laboratory partner for a better world. Agilent works with customers in more than 100 countries, providing instruments, software, services and consumables for the entire laboratory workflow. Agilent generated revenues of $4.0 billion in fiscal 2014. The company employs about 12,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.
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