Network test specialist EXFO has signed an agreement to acquire Yenista Optics for an undisclosed sum. The deal is subject to a number of conditions to be completed before closing.
Yenista Optics, a privately held company based in Lannion, France, supplies advanced optical test equipment for the R&D and manufacturing markets. Its product portfolio includes benchtop optical spectrum analysers, tunable lasers, tunable filters and passive optical component test systems for network equipment manufacturers and optical component vendors.
Founded in 2003 by Michiel van der Keur and Alain Poudoulec, the company started with an initial focus on dispersive free-space optical systems based on diffraction gratings. Yenista owns more than 20 patents on its measurement techniques, optical filters and external cavity lasers. The product range received a boost in 2009 when Anritsu transferred to Yenista a selection of optical instruments, including the reliable TUNICS tunable laser product line originating from Photonetics.
EXFO believes that Yenista Optics’ portfolio is highly complementary to its own, which largely consists of portable test equipment for the network service provider market. Yenista generated revenue of €5.2 million in 2016 and was profitable.
“Yenista Optics has built an impressive product portfolio over the years for the high-end laboratory and manufacturing markets,” said Germain Lamonde, executive chairman of EXFO’s board of directors. “This transaction, if completed, would allow EXFO to leverage Yenista’s best-in-class technology across its global sales channels to expand market share.”
This is EXFO’s second deal in as many weeks – the company has just agreed a deal to purchase French analytics firm Astellia (see EXFO targets service assurance with bid for mobile analytics firm Astellia).
There’s a growing amount of M&A activity in test and measurement space and EXFO is playing its part. In addition, EXFO bought UK-based Ontology Systems earlier this year (see EXFO acquires Ontology Systems for network automation) and late 2016 it acquired the assets of Absolute Analysis (see EXFO buys optical RF test technology from Absolute Analysis).
