FEI Buys 3D Visualization Software Company

FEI has announced that it has acquired Visualization Sciences Group (VSG) of Bordeaux, France.

VSG provides high-performance 3D visualization software products and tools to a range of markets, including oil & gas, geosciences, mining, life sciences, materials science and industrial inspection.

“VSG is an extension and acceleration of our strategy to provide complete imaging and visualization solutions to our customers,” said Don Kania, president and CEO of FEI.

Kania continued, “Their products and development capabilities fit well with all of our target markets, especially in our higher-growth Natural Resources and Life Sciences businesses. Our customers are expressing an increasing demand for analysis of the data our imaging systems create. At the same time, FEI intends to continue to build upon VSG’s growing software business. We are impressed with VSG’s solutions, including state-of-the-art 3D rendering, an open application framework, object-oriented 3D libraries and very large 3D data management capabilities. The company has a strong management team and a talented group of employees.”

“Combining with FEI gives us added breadth and distribution capabilities to continue our growth,” commented Jean-Bernard Cazeaux, president and CEO of VSG.

Cazeaux continued, “We look forward to further contributing to FEI’s success in high-growth opportunities where we have a solid customer base, such as Life Sciences and Natural Resources, and to contributing our expertise to applications across all of FEI’s markets.”

The purchase price for the acquisition is €44.8 million or approximately $55 million. FEI funded the purchase with euros from its European operations which otherwise would be subject to U.S. taxation if repatriated.

VSG had pro-forma revenue for the 12 months ended June 30, 2012 of approximately $19 million and has 88 employees.

FEI expects the acquisition to have a neutral impact on GAAP earnings for the second half of 2012 and to be accretive in 2013.