Hübner Acquires Cobolt

The German Hübner Group and the Swedish Cobolt Group have signed an agreement that results in Hübner acquiring 100% control of Cobolt’s business. The transaction, which was completed on December 4, 2015, will result in a strengthened business, well-placed to service an increasing portion of not only the growing global photonics markets but also the wider test and measurement and process control markets.

The Hübner Corporation, headquartered in Kassel, Germany, has its historic roots as a system supplier for the transportation industry. In 2006, Hübner entered into new technology markets in the fields of photonics, terahertz and high-frequency electronics. Since then, the Group has brought several innovations to market maturity, such as the tunable laser C-Wave^® and the T-Cognition^® /T-Spectralyzer^®. Both were awarded a Prism Award at Photonics West 2014, as well as several other globally recognized prizes.

The acquisition of Cobolt, a renowned supplier of compact and robust high performance lasers to analytical instrumentation applications based in Stockholm, Sweden, strengthens the Hübner footprint in these markets: “Bundling our competences with those of Cobolt leverages both capabilities. Cobolt is a dynamic and very innovative company: their development in the past 15 years-from a university spin-off to a well established supplier with one of the market's broadest ranges of powerful, small, and reliable single-frequency lasers-impresses me a lot. Cobolt fits perfectly into our growth plan and I very much look forward to our cooperation and new developments in our joint product portfolio," states Ingolf Cedra, Member of the Corporate Board of Management of the H Hübner ER Holding GmbH.

“Following our increasing penetration of markets for process and quality control equipment, it makes a lot of sense to merge with a strong corporate partner to better support OEM customers in these fields. With their long-term perspective, solid industrial focus, strong scientific network and complementary technologies the merger with Hübner will allow us to take the next step in development and help us scale up our production. I am happy for Cobolt and our customers and I am excited about the opportunity to work with the Hübner team.” says Dr. Håkan Karlsson, CEO of Cobolt AB.

The companies will make their first joint appearance in February 2016 at Photonics West, San Francisco, USA. Both sides look forward to providing their customers with the benefit that will accrue from the merger.