Agilent Pays £40 Million Cash for Cobalt Light Systems

Cobalt’s portfolio of solutions accelerates entry into high-growth Raman spectroscopy market and expands Agilent’s value proposition for pharmaceutical and biopharma customers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) today announced it has acquired Oxfordshire, U.K.-based Cobalt Light Systems (“Cobalt”), a provider of highly differentiated Raman spectroscopic instruments for the pharmaceutical industry, applied markets and public safety.

“This is exactly the type of acquisition that Agilent’s strategy calls for – one that expands our market share and provides immediate benefits to our customers”

Cobalt’s innovative suite of benchtop and handheld/portable Raman spectroscopic instruments are based on proprietary technologies that enable through-barrier identification of chemicals and materials. Traditional solutions based on conventional spectroscopy have limited capacities for detection of materials through sealed, non-transparent containers and are constrained to near-surface identification of materials such as pharma tablet coatings and containers. By enabling measurement through opaque barriers and surfaces, Cobalt’s solutions can analyze whole tablets or inside sealed containers reducing the need for quarantines and time-consuming sample processing and testing in pharmaceutical QC, hazardous chemical ID and security. The result is significant time, cost, and resource savings for customers as well as increased safety for certain market segments such as first responders or air passengers.

Cobalt’s customers include more than 20 of the largest 25 global pharmaceutical companies, and more than 75 airports across Europe and Asia-Pacific, including eight of the 10 largest European airports, with over 500 devices deployed at airport checkpoints. Recently, Cobalt has entered the hazardous substances markets with its handheld platform.

“Raman spectroscopy is one of the fastest-growing segments in spectroscopy,” said Phil Binns, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Spectroscopy and Vacuum Solutions Division. “This acquisition gives our customers access to state-of-the-art Raman spectroscopy technology. It also provides Agilent immediate entry into this fast-growing segment with a highly competitive, differentiated offering.”

“This is exactly the type of acquisition that Agilent’s strategy calls for – one that expands our market share and provides immediate benefits to our customers,” said Patrick Kaltenbach, president of Agilent’s Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group. “We’re focused on delivering best-in-class solutions to our customers, and Cobalt’s Raman spectroscopy product and team meet and exceed that criterion.”

“Cobalt and Agilent have similar cultures focused on customer-centric innovation,” Cobalt CEO Paul Loeffen said. “The combination of Cobalt’s patented technologies with Agilent’s product-development expertise, manufacturing capabilities, channels and customer base will allow us to scale our operations to take advantage of this rapidly growing market.”

Agilent is acquiring Cobalt for £40 million in cash.

Cobalt is privately held with 52 employees. Cobalt’s CEO will remain with Agilent as the Director of Raman Spectroscopy. Oxford will become Agilent’s global center for Raman spectroscopy. Cobalt has received numerous prestigious awards since the company was founded in 2008 including The Queen’s Award for Enterprise in 2015 and the 2014 Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert Award. It was also ranked as one of the U.K.’s fastest-growing technology companies in 2014.

About Cobalt

Cobalt develops innovative products and technologies for noninvasive, through-barrier chemical analysis, for applications in airport security, hazardous-chemical identification and pharmaceutical QC. Cobalt’s proprietary technologies use novel variants of Raman spectroscopy. Cobalt’s instruments can rapidly and accurately identify materials hidden inside objects or through opaque barriers such as plastic, colored glass, paper and skin, or can measure the concentrations of materials in mixtures, with a high degree of accuracy. Founded in 2008 as a spin-out from the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Cobalt is headquartered in Oxfordshire, U.K., with offices in Reston, Virginia, U.S., and Hong Kong. For more information, visit www.Cobaltlight.com.

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A), is a global leader in analytical laboratory technologies. With more than 50 years of insight and innovation, our instruments, software, services, solutions and people provide trusted answers to our customers’ most challenging questions. The company generated revenues of $4.20 billion in fiscal 2016 and employs about 13,000 people worldwide. Information about Agilent is available at www.agilent.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbors created therein. The forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, information regarding Agilent’s future revenue, earnings and profitability; planned new products; market trends; the future demand for the company’s products and services; customer expectations; and revenue and non-GAAP earnings guidance for the third quarter and full fiscal year 2017. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause Agilent’s results to differ materially from management’s current expectations. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, unforeseen changes in the strength of our customers’ businesses; unforeseen changes in the demand for current and new products, technologies and services; unforeseen changes in the currency markets; customer purchasing decisions and timing, and the risk that we are not able to realize the savings expected from integration and restructuring activities. In addition, other risks that Agilent faces in running its operations include the ability to execute successfully through business cycles; the ability to meet and achieve the benefits of its cost-reduction goals and otherwise successfully adapt its cost structures to continuing changes in business conditions; ongoing competitive, pricing and gross-margin pressures; the risk that our cost-cutting initiatives will impair our ability to develop products and remain competitive and to operate effectively; the impact of geopolitical uncertainties and global economic conditions on our operations, our markets and our ability to conduct business; the ability to improve asset performance to adapt to changes in demand; the ability of our supply chain to adapt to changes in demand; the ability to successfully introduce new products at the right time, price and mix; the ability of Agilent to successfully integrate recent acquisitions; the ability of Agilent to successfully comply with certain complex regulations; and other risks detailed in Agilent’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended April 30, 2017. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Agilent’s management and on currently available information. Agilent undertakes no responsibility to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement.

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