News Article
AIFOtec management buys out of Finisar
AIFOtec has become the second business to leave the Finisar stable in recent months.
Laser manufacturer AIFOtec of Germany has been taken out of the Finisar fold through a management buyout. Finisar bought the company for $2.3 million in February 2002 when AIFOtec was in financial difficulties, rebranding it a s Finisar Europe. The company’s original CEO, Claus-Georg Müller, has completed a management buyout to reestablish it under its original name.
In October 2002, the management of Sensors Unlimited bought themselves out of Finisar fro $6.1 million, having been acquired two years previously for $700 million.
The funding has come from a bank loan, and the company is expecting further financing from venture capitalists and German government grants.
Under the terms of the buyout, Finisar has a license agreement with AIFOtec which will give it a cut of any revenues that AIFOtec makes from the fiber Bragg grating stabilized laser technology that its staff continued under Finisar. The advantage of this technology lies in its relatively low manufacturing costs.