Gerber Scientific, Inc., South Windsor, CT, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement under which it will make an offer, through a wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Virtek Vision Int’l, Inc. Virtek is a provider of industrial laser solutions and is based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and in Ludenscheid, Germany.
Virtek serves businesses in the aerospace, prefabricated construction, transportation, metalworking, tool-and-die, and mold-making industries across the globe. The majority of Virtek’s sales are in Europe and North America. Gerber says the acquisition would immediately add approximately $50 million to Gerber’s annual revenue, while providing a platform for worldwide growth in Gerber’s industrial and other composite-materials applications.
“The addition of Virtek will advance Gerber’s leadership in innovation and process automation,” says Marc Giles, president and CEO of Gerber Scientific, Inc. “With Gerber’s successful launch of the Solara ion, GERBERcutter Z7, and ALPS products earlier this fiscal year, this acquisition…is in line with our stated strategic objective to supplement organic growth with targeted complementary acquisitions.”
“This is an exciting milestone for our company, and we look forward to scaling our growth,” says Stephen Sorocky, president and CEO of Virtek.“Gerber’s global reach, scale, widely recognized brand, and worldwide service and customer relationships make it the ideal partner for Virtek. Our combined teams will create exciting growth opportunities for Virtek, our customers, and our employees. We look forward to working with the Gerber team to ensure a rapid and seamless transition.”
According to Virtek, its board of directors has unanimously agreed to support the Gerber offer and recommend to Virtek’s shareholders that they accept it. The acquisition will be funded through Gerber’s existing $125-million line of credit.