Bryan, Garnier & Co acts as Sole Financial Advisor to SÜSS MicroTec on the sale of its subsidiary SUSS MicroOptics to Focuslight Technologies

Bryan, Garnier & Co acted as the Sole Financial Advisor to SÜSS MicroTec in the sale of its Swiss subsidiary SUSS MicroOptics.

SÜSS MicroTec concluded in early 2023 that the MicroOptics division no longer fits the company’s core business due to low synergies with their semiconductor equipment business.

In early November, SÜSS MicroTec signed an agreement to sell its Swiss subsidiary to Shanghai-listed Focuslight Technologies Inc. The transaction volume amounts to €75 million and includes the acquisition of all shares in SUSS MicroOptics. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024 and is subject to pending approvals.

Bryan, Garnier & Co ran a highly competitive process, introducing a range of strategic buyers and private equity firms. The well-structured process led to a high number of interested buyers, of which Focuslight proved to be the most suitable partner for the future growth of the company.

For Bryan, Garnier & Co, this is already the fourth transaction in the optics industry in the last three years after the sale of Specim (Finland) to KonicaMinolta, the sale of Headwall Photonics (USA) to Arsenal Capital Partners, and most recently, the sale of Telops (Canada) to Photonis in October 2023.

Bryan, Garnier & Co. acted as the Sole Financial Advisor to SÜSS MicroTec in the sale of its Swiss subsidiary SUSS MicroOptics.

Focuslight and SUSS MicroOptics complement each other in their product range portfolios and address similar customers in the automotive and medical technology segments; therefore, the expected synergies are significant.

Focuslight has already gained experience in the Western European market with the acquisition of micro-optics and beam shaping systems producer LIMO GmbH, based in Dortmund in 2017. Focuslight is determined to strengthen the Swiss production and R&D capacities of SUSS MicroOptics and to invest in the two sites in Neuchatel and Hauterive.

SUSS MicroOptics, based in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, was founded in 1999 and has since earned a worldwide reputation for its pioneering role in the manufacture of micro-optics for industrial applications.

Focuslight Technologies develops and manufactures, with 800 employees, high-power diode laser components and materials (photon generation), laser optics (photon control), photonic application modules, assemblies, and sub-systems (photonics application solutions) with a focus on automotive, pan-semiconductor, and medical & health application solutions.