North Kingstown, RI 4/27/01 and 6/20/01-Brown & Sharpe has sold its metrology business to Hexagon, A.B. of Sweden for approximately $170 million. The metrology business consists of the Measuring Systems Group and the Precision Measuring Instruments Division. The metrology business will keep the Brown & Sharpe name and the Measuring Systems Group’s headquarters in Kingstown, Rhode Island will become Hexagon’s US headquarters. The remaining businesses of Brown & Sharpe have been renamed BNS Co. In addition, Hexagon will take over the assets related to Renishaws measuring probe from Mikromess AB as of September 1, 2001. Hexagon is a multinational group of companies with net sales of $530 million.