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GE Buys Stake in French Infrared Unit
By pierre tran
Published: 30 Apr 13:19 EDT (09:19 GMT)
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Paris - General Electric, the U.S. industrial conglomerate, has bought for an undisclosed amount a 15 percent stake in Ulis, a subsidiary of Sofradir, a French maker of infrared detectors.
Ulis makes uncooled IR detectors mainly for commercial uses, said Sofradir in an April 30 statement.
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Sofradir, a privately held company, makes IR sensors for military, space and commercial markets.
GE bought its holding in Ulis from CEA Valorisation, an equity holding company of the French state-owned Atomic Energy Agency. Sofradir remains the majority owner of Ulis, with 85 percent, the company said.
"We're delighted to have GE join us as we enter a new phase at Ulis," said Philippe Bensussan, chairman and chief executive at Sofradir and chairman at Ulis. "The CEA brought key technology assets in the form of patents and tight cooperation for continuous improvements of the technology."
CEA Valorisation sold its stake under terms of a 2002 shareholders agreement that allowed an exit after five years.
Ulis was created in 2002 and had 2007 sales of $60 million. Sofradir and Ulis export more than 70 percent of their products. Customers include the U.S. Army, Thales, Sagem, Selex, Alcatel Alenia Space, the European Space Agency and FLIR Systems.
Combined 2007 sales of Sofradir and Ulis totaled $165 million.
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