Consolidation hits the vision system market yet again. Zebra Technologies, pursuing a strategy of becoming a broader automation player, announced intent to acquire Matrox Imaging. Matrox has been around for a long time. I remember it from my days as an integrator. It’s a tough market to go alone.
Zebra Technologies announced it intends to acquire Matrox Imaging. This acquisition further expands Zebra’s offerings in the fast-growing automation and vision technology solution space following last year’s acquisitions of Adaptive Vision and Fetch Robotics.
Matrox Imaging offers platform-independent software, software development kits (SDKs), smart cameras, 3D sensors, vision controllers, input/output (I/O) cards, and frame grabbers which are used to capture, inspect, assess, and record data from industrial vision systems in factory automation, electronics and pharmaceutical packaging, semiconductor inspection, and more.
“Customers are increasingly deploying automated solutions to augment their front-line workers, enabling them to focus on more complex, higher value workflows, and machine vision is a key technology to help them get there,” said Anders Gustafsson, Chief Executive Officer of Zebra Technologies. “This acquisition enables us to meet our customer’s evolving needs, regardless of where they are on their automation journey—from capturing and analyzing data to facilitate decision-making to deploying physical automation solutions to accelerate the production and movement of goods and materials. We are excited to welcome the Matrox Imaging team to the Zebra family.”
Matrox Imaging’s solutions complement Zebra’s recently launched fixed industrial scanning and machine vision portfolio as well as significantly augment Zebra’s growing expertise in software, machine learning and deep learning.
“The combination of Matrox Imaging’s technical expertise with the global footprint of Zebra Technologies presents an opportunity for Matrox Imaging to accelerate its long-term strategic plan,” said Lorne Trottier, President and Co-Founder of Matrox. “With its complementary machine vision and fixed industrial scanning portfolio, Zebra Technologies will be an excellent home for Matrox Imaging.”
Zebra expects to fund the $875 million purchase price with a combination of cash on hand along with fully committed financing under its credit facility. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval and is expected to close in 2022. Matrox Imaging generates annual sales of approximately $100 million with a higher profit margin profile than Zebra.
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP is serving as legal counsel and UBS Investment Bank is serving as financial advisor to Zebra. Stikeman Elliott LLP is acting as legal counsel and Evercore is acting as financial advisor to Matrox Imaging.
