Photonis acquired Burle in US Paris, August 23, 2005

After the acquisition of DEP in February 2005, Photonis continues its global development and reinforces its strategic position in the field of photodetection with the acquisition of Burle Industries in the USA.
Photonis Holding SAS, a 76% participation of AXA Private Equity, has acquired 100% of Burle Industries.

Burle Industries Inc., is a global manufacturer and supplier of specialized electron tubes and electro-optic products. Burle is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA with additional locations in Sturbridge, Massachusetts USA, and Mexico. Burle manufactures Power Tubes and Cavities, Photomultiplier Tubes, and Power Supplies; Channeltron® Mass Spec Detectors, Microchannel Plates, Advanced Performance Detectors and Flexible Fiber Optics. In total Burle Industries employs about 340 people over these different sites.

Photonis and Burle Industries are very complementary in terms of product lines, geographic coverage and market segments.
This acquisition makes Photonis-DEP-Burle Industries Group the 2nd worldwide leading manufacturer in the field of photodetection and products such as photomultiplier tubes, image intensifier tubes and micro channel plates with a total turnover above 130 million euros, five production sites (France, Netherlands and the USA) and over 1.000 employees.

Quoting Jean-Pierre Regner, CEO of Photonis: “These two acquisitions are transforming Photonis: with strong complementarities, the future looks promising for the whole Group: the merger of know-how in terms of marketing, development and production will enable the Group to reinforce its positions within our markets by proposing to our customers a wider product range with better performances. With Burle, the Group acquires a unique presence in the USA which will accelerate our development in that zone. Furthermore, we have signed an agreement with the French National Institute of Nuclear Physics which will reinforce our potential of innovation in order to design new technological solutions for our customers”.

Quoting Mathieu Antonini, Investment Director at AXA Private Equity: “the active support of the main shareholder to the management of the Group will lead to an acceleration of the value creation: with these two acquisitions, Photonis is becoming a group with a real worldwide coverage and a potential of earnings growth over the next 3 years through the implementation of synergies”.

Photonis Holding SAS, headquarter in Brive (Corrèze-France) is a world leader in the design, development and production of devices for detecting and amplifying very low levels of radiation. The main product lines are image intensifiers, photomultipliers, micro channel plates and nuclear gas detectors.Through a careful understanding of market needs, Photonis has reinforced its leading position in different specific applications, especially medical, defence and scientific fields.

Photonis has managed to take up challenges in terms of product performance and reliability combined with constraints of very short time to market in line with the customers’ needs. Photonis Holding acquired beginning of 2005 the Dutch company DEP BV to form Photonis-DEP BV, reinforcing significantly its position in the Image Intensifier Tubes market. Since 2001 Photonis Holding  is owned by AXA Private Equity which has established strong links with the management team of Photonis aiming at enhancing future businesses.

About PHOTONIS:

(www.photonis.com)

Burle Industries, INC., is a global manufacturer and supplier of specialized electron tubes and electro-optic products. Burle is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA with additional manufacturing locations in Sturbridge, Massachusetts USA;, and Matamoros, Mexico. BURLE manufactures Power Tubes and Cavities, Photomultiplier Tubes, Power Supplies, Channeltron® Mass Spec Detectors, Microchannel Plates, Advanced Performance Detectors and Flexible Fiber Optics.

This activity was created in 1942 in Lancaster by RCA,  acquired by General Electric in 1986 and taken over in 1987 by the management team of the division to create Burle Industries Inc. The factory of Matamoros (Mexico) was founded in 1998 for the manufacturing of photomultiplier tubes and in 1999 BURLE acquired the electro-optics division of Galileo in Sturbridge, MA.

About BURLE Industries Inc.:

(www.burle.com)

Press Contacts

AXA Private Equity:
+33 (0)144 45 92 20

Photonis:
Jean-Pierre Regner: +33 (0)5 55 86 37 16

Burle Industries:
Kirk Jenne: +1 717 295 6996

List of Participants and Advisors on the PHOTONIS-BURLE Industries transaction

1. Buyer

AXA Private Equity: Mathieu Antonini, Thibault Basquin

PHOTONIS Holding & AXA Private Equity Advisors:

• Legal:
  Sokolow Carreras & Associés for the US corporate: Joel Adler, Robert Miklautsch
  De Pardieu Brocas Mafféi & Leygonie pour the French corporate and the financing: Olivier Huyghes-Despointes
• Due-diligences:
  1. Market: Arthur D-Little (Vincent Bamberger, Frank Herbaux)
  2. Financial: E&Y TAS (Sami Rahal, Gratien de Pontville)
  3. Environment: URS (Bertrand Latrobe, Steve Engleman)
  4. Insurance: Gras Savoye (Carole Ramella)

2. Sellers

Sellers Advisors:

• M&A: Mc Coll Partners (Dave Vorhoff, Phil Colaço)
• Legal: Morgan Lewis Philadelphia (Peter Sartorius)

3. Financing

• Senior debt financing: Fortis Banque France (Pauline Godillot, Henri de Rochebrune), IKB (Eric Schaefer)
• Senior debt financing advisor: SJ Berwin (Hervé Pillar)