Danaher to Acquire X-Rite
The acquisition comes slightly more than a year after Danaher acquired graphic-arts firm Esko, which develops software and hardware for packaging and printing. X-Rite’s offerings include spectrophotometers and colorimeters for color matching and measurement. In 2007, X-Rite acquired Pantone, which supports color matching throughout the production process with its Pantone Matching System. Danaher said in its first-quarter conference call that it expects the purchase to lower EPS by $0.03 in 2012 and increase EPS by $0.04 in 2013.
Washington, DC 4/10/12; Grand Rapids, MI 4/10/12—Danaher has definitively agreed to acquire color-measurement technology firm X-Rite for $5.55 per share in cash for a total of about $625 million, including the assumption of debt, net of cash. The price per share is 39% higher than X-Rite’s April 9 closing price of $4 per share. “We are excited about the opportunity to acquire two premier brands in X-Rite and Pantone,” commented Danaher Executive Vice President William K. Daniel II. “Color measurement is an attractive market adjacency to our existing Product Identification businesses. X-Rite’s color-measurement technologies complement Esko’s digital-packaging and design capabilities to provide customers with a full range of solutions to meet their packaging and design needs.” X-Rite will maintain its name and brands, as well as its major senior personnel. The company will join Danaher’s Industrial Technology Segment as part of the Product Identification group. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.
