Tuesday, January 10, 2012

FEI Buys Microscope Firm

Hillsboro-based FEI, the maker of scientific instruments and electron microscopes, said Monday that it has acquired ASPEX Corporation, a maker of rugged, field-deployable scanning electronic microscope (SEMs). FEI said it will pay $30.5M for ASPEX. ASPEX had revenues of $10.0M. ASPEX is based in Delmont, PA, and supplies its SEMs to military, industrial, and factory floor applications. FEI said that it has been using the ASPEX products as part of its QEMSCAN WellSite solutions for the oil and gas industry, and the acquisition gives it ownership of the essential hardware and software used in its product.