Belfast based Andor Technology has acquired US camera manufacturer Apogee Imaging Systems for $3.75 million in cash (€2.7 million).

Andor, which develops and manufactures high performance scientific digital cameras for academic, industrial and government applications, may also pay additional consideration, to a maximum value of $0.34 million in cash, under certain performance criteria. It is expected that Andor will receive in excess of $0.7 million of net assets as part of the acquisition.

Conor Walsh, chief executive of Andor, said that the deal is a "strategic acquisition".

“It significantly broadens our mid-range camera offering. The Apogee portfolio allows us to leverage our existing OEM customer base and our global distributor network, both of which currently source these products elsewhere,” he said.

The deal is the second announced by the Belfast firm this month, following its acquisition of Canadian firm Spectral Applied Research in a deal worth more than €8 million.

Apogee, which is based in California and employs 19 staff, has been manufacturing and supplying cooled CCD cameras to government laboratories, astronomers and instrumentation manufacturers around the world since it was founded in 1993.

Apogee’s Alta® camera series is designed to offer a broad range of sensor options and is particularly attractive to both the Astronomy community and as an OEM solution in the life science instrumentation market.

This portfolio will “significantly enlarge” Andor’s current mid-range camera offering, the company said in a statement.

Andor expects Apogee to deliver revenue in the first year of its ownership of $4.5 million and to be “modestly profitable”.

“Thereafter, margins will increase to levels similar to the rest of the Andor business,” the company said.