Agilent Technologies Announces Acquisitions

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire TILL Photonics GmbH and has completed the acquisition of Colloidal Dynamics. Both companies will join the recently created Materials Science Solutions Unit within Agilent’s Life Science and Chemical Analysis business. Financial details were not disclosed. The TILL Photonics GmbH acquisition is expected to be final at the end of March, subject to certain closing conditions.

In addition to the acquisitions, Agilent is announcing five enhancements to its flagship gas chromatograph (GC) and GC/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) platforms, designed to improve analysis of complex mixtures and make powerful qualitative and quantitative capabilities accessible to a wider range of laboratories.

Acquisitions for Business Unit

The Agilent Materials Science Solution Unit (MSSU) was formed in 2007 under the leadership of Mike Gasparian, vice president and general manager. MSSU’s focus is to provide microscopy, particle analysis and optical spectroscopy solutions for the materials testing, life sciences and chemical analysis markets, as well as to advance nanotechnology.

“Our Materials Science Solutions Unit targets expansion of measurement platforms for research scientists in many existing and new market segments,” said Mike Gasparian, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Materials Science Solutions Unit. “When final, the TILL Photonics acquisition will position Agilent as a premier provider of advanced optical and fluorescence microscopy systems. Colloidal Dynamics launches our particle-measurement portfolio, allowing us to offer customers unmatched zeta-potential and particle-size measurement tools.”

TILL Photonics develops and markets innovative life science products for fluorescence microscopy. The acquisition will complement Agilent’s atomic force microscope (AFM) platform and is consistent with Agilent’s strategy of providing customers with comprehensive workflow solutions. TILL Photonics employees are expected to join Agilent when the acquisition becomes final at the end of March. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the company was founded in 1993.

“I expect the novel TILL microscopy platform will experience optimal maturing conditions as a part of Agilent and will appeal to a much wider base of customers leveraging a strong sales and support function,” said Dr. Rainer Uhl, founder of TILL Photonics and professor at the BioImaging Center of the University of Munich.

The acquisition of privately held Colloidal Dynamics enables Agilent to have a complementary suite of particle-analysis solutions to materials science customers in the polymer, specialty chemical, inks/pigments, food, pharmaceutical and materials research markets.

“Our joining Agilent allows us to continue to pioneer particle measurements and tap into worldwide service and support for our products,” said Dave Cannon, former CEO of Colloidal Dynamics Group. “Joining Agilent allows us to make the most of the synergies that exist between the two companies; there are exciting opportunities to grow.”

New Workflow Innovations Launched at Pittcon

7890A GC and 5975C GC/MS

• The first GC x GC configuration that doesn’t use cryogen cooling. This removes a great deal of cost and complexity, making the high peak capacity and resolving power of this method accessible to a much wider range of labs.
• The acquisition of the Blos bead nitrogen/phosphorous detector technology for the GC, designed to substantially increase productivity and uptime.
• The Agilent J&W High-Efficiency Capillary GC Column product line. Smaller internal diameter delivers high resolution while shorter lengths increase speed.
• A new Triple-Axis detector for the 5975C GC/MS, delivering the industry’s strongest signal at any given operating gain.
• An upgrade to Agilent’s Deconvolution Reporting Software for GC/MS, used to extract MS signals from complex mixtures. It is especially useful with dirty matrices.

LC

• The high-performance 1200 Series Rapid Resolution Liquid Chromatography autosampler, delivering the lowest carryover and highest precision of any autosampler on the market.
• The latest version of its popular triple quadrupole mass spectrometer, the Agilent 6410B. It features faster polarity switching scans to allow complex samples showing strong fragmentation in negative polarity to be analyzed in a single run. Agilent also announced the landmark sale of the 500th 6410 triple quad in less than two years.