Rofin-Sinar

ROFIN
Industry Industrial Lasers
Founded 1975
Area served
 Worldwide
Website rofin.com

The US based company ROFIN-SINAR Technologies Inc. develops, manufactures and sells laser sources and laser-based solutions for industrial material processing. On 7th November 2016, the company was acquired by Coherent Inc.[1] [2]

From 1996 to November 2016, ROFIN-SINAR Technologies’ shares have been traded on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. In addition, in July 2001, RSTI was listed on the German "Prime Standard" segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the ISIN US7750431022.

The companies wide range of laser sources, including CO2 lasers, fiber lasers, solid-state, diode and various q-switch lasers are now available at Coherent.[3]

History

The company was founded 1975 in Hamburg, Germany as “SINAR Laser Systeme Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH”. Sinar is the Sanskrit for “beam of light”, but this name was already used by another Swiss company. By taking over the British enterprise Rofin, the company changed its name to ROFIN-SINAR Laser GmbH.[4]

In the beginning of the 1980s, ROFIN started the development and production of its own lasers in Hamburg. ROFIN first entered the Japanese market by establishing a joint venture with the Japanese company Marubeni. In 1987, ROFIN-SINAR became a wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens AG. Siemens completed the venture in 1988 with the acquisition of the industrial laser category of Spectra Physics Inc., USA and the German laser marking company Laser-Optronic GmbH.

Being the first 100% corporate spin-off of Siemens, ROFIN went public and was listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under the symbol “RSTI” in 1996. Since July 2001, the company is listed in Germany on the "Prime Standard" segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as well. From March 2004 to March 2010, ROFIN figured on the TecDAX sampling index.

In 2015, Rofin came under significant pressure by an investor (SilverArrow Capital) to exchange the companies independent directors based on questions on compliance and below average management performance. SilverArrow, a London-based activist investment firm, currently one of the largest shareholders of the company, claiming in various public letters (SEC filing 14A Oct. 8 & 14A Oct. 28) that the company was lacking an adequate growth strategy and had missed market opportunities for years. Before the shareholders could have a final vote on the claim in the upcoming Annual General Meeting (Bloomberg), the acquisition by the competitor Coherent Inc. was announced.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "COHERENT, Inc. Announces Closing of Acquisition of ROFIN-SINAR Technologies". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  2. ↑ Editorial, Reuters. "EU approves Coherent purchase of Rofin-Sinar with conditions". U.S. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  3. ↑ GmbH, Henrich Publikationen. "Erweitertes Portfolio". www.bbr.de (in German). Retrieved 2018-08-09.
  4. ↑ "History of Rofin-Sinar". Reference for Business. Retrieved 4 December 2012.
  5. ↑ "Coherent completes $942m acquisition of Rofin-Sinar Technologies | Laser Systems Europe". www.lasersystemseurope.com. Retrieved 2018-08-09.
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