by
John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | March 17, 2022
Zebra Technologies will acquire Matrox Imaging division for $875 million.
Zebra Technologies is set to acquire Matrox Imaging division, Matrox Electronic Systems for $875 million.
The company signed a definitive share purchase agreement for the business unit from Matrox. It plans to combine the capabilities of Matrox Electronic Systems with its machine vision and fixed industrial scanning portfolio, which will enable Zebra to accelerate its Enterprise Asset intelligence vision by adding new and different modalities for data capture and analysis to bolster the breadth and depth of its offerings.
A developer of automatic identification and data capture solutions, Zebra Technologies’ products sense, analyze and perform in real-time to create a transparent environment that digitally connects staff and optimizes workflow.
The Matrox Imaging division supplies vision software, smart cameras, 3D sensors, vision controllers, I/O cards and frame grabbers that facilitate image processing and analysis; machine and robot guidance; ID mark reading and verification; image and video capture; visual inspection and measurement; 3D data capture, display, processing and analysis; and image classification with deep learning for quality control. It recently
released Matrox Gecho, its new event-logging tool for Matrox Rapixo CXP frame grabbers.
With these offerings, the company generates annual sales of approximately $100 million with a higher profit margin profile than Zebra.
“Through the introduction of more advanced, image-based sensing technologies and software-based visual analytics, Zebra can give customers even greater visibility into the status of assets at the operational edge of their businesses to meet their expanding needs in the post-pandemic economy, including operating more efficiently with increasingly automated, data-powered workflows,” Donato Montanari, vice president and general manager of machine vision at Zebra Technologies, told HCB News.
Additionally, Matrox will add more machine vision hardware and software to Zebra’s portfolio for existing and new OEM partners, industrial automation distributors and system integrators to facilitate the needs of its joint end customers. A team of machine vision engineers will also be transferred to Zebra to aid it in this endeavor as well as help develop its Center of Excellence for Machine Vision.
The deal does not include the Matrox Video division, Matrox Graphics, which will remain under the ownership of Matrox president and co-founder Lorne Trottier. The head offices for the Matrox Video division and Matrox Imaging division will also remain in Montreal.
According to Montanari, the acquisition enables the company to focus on growing the products of Matrox Graphics, as well as the ongoing process of innovating the video division, and to accelerate its long-term strategic plan. “The acquisition of Matrox Imaging expands the portfolio of machine vision products, software and services Zebra can offer customers to help them thrive in the on-demand economy that is constrained by both labor shortages and limited supply of upstream goods and materials. And 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 deal is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval.
Zebra Technologies will fund it through a combination of cash and fully committed financing under its credit facility.
