Yokogawa Analytical Systems becoming Agilent Technologies subsidiary

ControlGlobal.com
02/13/2006

Agilent Technologies Inc. and Yokogawa Electric Corp. report that their joint venture, Yokogawa Analytical Systems, has become a wholly owned Agilent subsidiary. Yokogawa will receive approximately $106 million from the transaction, including $98 million from Agilent for its 49% share in the joint venture and $7.5 million in dividends from Yokogawa Analytical Systems.

Yokogawa Analytical Systems was founded in 1992 as a joint venture by Agilent (then part of Hewlett-Packard and a 51% owner) and Yokogawa (a 49% owner). Yokogawa Analytical Systems makes the ICP/MS, an advanced analytical system used in gas chromatography for laboratory and other scientific applications.

When it founded the joint venture, Agilent transferred its sales and support of advanced laboratory analytical systems to Yokogawa Analytical Systems, and Yokogawa transferred all of its laboratory business to the joint venture, including equipment under development. Yokogawa Analytical Systems had sales of more than $160 million in fiscal 2005.

Agilent and Yokogawa report that the joint venture has achieved the original objectives set for it 13 years ago. To expand the market presence for its products and services in Japan, Agilent decided the timing now was right for Yokogawa Analytical Systems to become a wholly owned subsidiary. By selling its stake in the joint venture, Yokogawa will be able to dedicate additional resources to its core businesses, including strengthening international engineering capabilities for the industrial automation field, and investing in a new semiconductor facility in Sagamihara.

"Yokogawa and Agilent have had a very strong, cooperative relationship over the past 13 years," said Ryuji Kanno, Yokogawa Analytical Systems’ president. "This acquisition of Yokogawa's minority share is a positive step for both companies."