B. Riley FBR, the wholly-owned subsidiary of B. Riley Financial, served as the exclusive buy-side advisor to Luna Innovations in connection with the latter’s acquisition of General Photonics, a provider of innovative components, modules and test equipment focused on the generation, measurement and control of polarized light critical in fiber optic-based applications.
The purchase price included $19 million in cash at closing and up to an additional $1 million in earn-out consideration.
Luna is a leader in optical technology, providing unique capabilities in high speed optoelectronics and high-performance fiber optic test products for the telecommunications industry and distributed fiber optic sensing for the aerospace and automotive industries. It operates through two business segments, technology development and products and licensing, which work closely to turn ideas into products.
B. Riley FBR provided a fairness opinion in addition to facilitating, negotiating and structuring the transaction on behalf of Luna. The B. Riley FBR deal team was led by investment bankers Michael Lowell, Grant Hustedt, and Grayson Largman.
“The acquisition of General Photonics reflects a highly complementary addition to Luna’s evolving portfolio of strategic assets,” said B. Riley FBR Managing Director Mike Lowell. “This transaction continues to underscore B. Riley FBR’s commitment to the optical technologies sector and we thank Luna for selecting us as their advisor and allowing us to assist them in this acquisition.”
“Luna has continued to be interested in M&A investments that fit squarely within our strategy to accelerate performance in our two important market verticals. General Photonics falls right into the center of what Luna does, and adds greater scale with complementary products and expanded exposure to various end markets, particularly in Asia,” said Scott Graeff, Luna president and CEO. “This is yet another significant step for us as we continue to focus our business on our core strengths in fiber optic-based test and measurement technologies, and we were very pleased with B. Riley FBR’s support in helping us to complete this important transaction.”
