Even after decades of experience developing eye-related devices under its belt, Carl Zeiss Meditec is still looking to expand its ophthalmic portfolio.
The German company—a subsidiary of the larger Zeiss Group conglomerate—announced Friday that it has inked an agreement to acquire Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center, or DORC, a research institute in the Netherlands that is churning out a line of retinal surgical devices.
Under the terms of their agreement, Zeiss will buy out 100% of DORC’s shares from the institute’s current owner, the French investment firm Eurazeo. All told, the acquisition is valued at approximately 985 million euros, or about $1.08 billion, according to the announcement.
Though the deal is still in need of certain regulatory and antitrust sign-offs, Zeiss and DORC are expecting it to wrap up in the first half of next year.
In its announcement, Zeiss said that the planned purchase will complement the work of its Zeiss Medical Technology business group, which makes a variety of devices used in ophthalmology and optometry, as well as imaging tools, radiotherapy systems, microscopes and other devices needed for microsurgery procedures beyond the eye.
DORC, meanwhile, offers its own suite of ophthalmic devices, centered around its EVA line of surgical systems and accessories.
Carl Zeiss Meditec CEO Markus Weber, Ph.D., specifically noted in the release that the addition of DORC’s technologies will help “accelerate ZEISS’s position in the vitreo-retinal surgery segment and extend our leadership in the ophthalmic medical devices market.”
“By joining forces with Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center, we will greatly enhance our ZEISS Retina Workflow and overall portfolios for both posterior and anterior surgery segments, helping to firmly establish our position as a leading solutions provider in the global retinal surgery market,” added Euan Thomson, Ph.D., head of Zeiss Medical Technology’s ophthalmology and digital business units.
The acquisition announcement came just a few days after Zeiss reported nearly 10% revenue growth for its fiscal year 2022/23. That pushed its revenues past the 2 billion euro mark, the bulk of which came from its ophthalmology business unit, where revenues increased more than 7% to reach more than 1.57 billion euros. The microsurgery unit, meanwhile, saw growth of more than 18%, allowing it to bring in more than half a billion euros.
The news also comes about a year and a half after Zeiss’s last medtech-focused acquisition. That time, Carl Zeiss Meditec announced in April 2022 its plans to pick up both Kogent Surgical and Katalyst Surgical, two Missouri-based surgical instrument makers. The financial terms of those buyouts weren’t disclosed.