Varian, Inc. Acquires Oxford Diffraction, Ltd.

04-10-2008: Varian, Inc. announced that it has acquired Oxford Diffraction, Ltd., a privately owned company based in Abingdon, U.K.

"The acquisition of Oxford Diffraction is key to Varian's goal of broadening its range of information-rich detection products for life science research," said Garry W. Rogerson, President and CEO, Varian, Inc. "Oxford Diffraction has experienced rapid growth since its formation in 2001 and has established a strong reputation in single crystal X-ray crystallography, particularly in Europe. Oxford Diffraction products will now be distributed on a global basis via Varian's worldwide distribution network."

"In addition to the obvious benefit to our business of a much larger distribution and support organization, the sale of Oxford Diffraction to Varian brings a number of additional important advantages," said Paul Loeffen CEO of Oxford Diffraction. "We now have the opportunity to offer customers more powerful solutions through combinations of complementary information-rich techniques to include X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometry and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Furthermore, as part of Varian, we look forward to continuing the development of innovative technologies and products for our customers."

Varian, Inc. acquired Oxford Diffraction for approximately $37 million in cash and assumed net debt (subject to certain net asset adjustments). The transaction also includes an opportunity for additional purchase price payments over three years, dependent on future financial performance. Those future payments could total up to $10 million if aggressive performance targets are achieved. Oxford Diffraction generated revenues of approximately $15 million for the twelve months ended March 31, 2008. Varian, Inc. will provide further details on the acquisition during its webcast conference call to review its fiscal year 2008 second quarter financial results later this month.