Navitar sells coatings division

17 Feb 2009

Rochester, New York, February 11, 2009 – Navitar, Inc., a leading manufacturer of precision optical systems, announced today the recent sale of Navitar Coating Labs, located in Newport Beach, California. The decision was made to sell the coatings division based on the success of Navitar’s recent acquisition of Special Optics, a Wharton, New Jersey firm, which has quadrupled the company’s optical design capabilities and expanded Navitar’s in-house optical coating capabilities.

Navitar’s growth began one year ago with the purchase of Special Optics, a firm specializing in the optical design and rapid prototyping of complete electro-optical systems. Additional optical design personnel were added at both the Special Optics facilities and Navitar’s Rochester, New York headquarters. Jeremy Goldstein, Co-President of Navitar comments, "The purchase of Special Optics was the beginning of a dramatic surge in our design efforts and the rapid development of next generation optical systems. Navitar is now one of the few optical companies that can seamlessly integrate optical and mechanical engineering, rapid prototyping, and volume custom lens production in one operation."

With in-house optical coating capabilities at the Special Optics facilities in New Jersey, the Navitar Coating Labs facility in Newport Beach, California became a non-core asset. Formerly GM Vacuum Coating Laboratory, Navitar Coating Labs was originally purchased by Navitar in 1998 and has remained a separate organization with its own customer base.

One hundred percent of the shares of Navitar Coating Labs were purchased for an undisclosed amount by its President, Dan Coursen, who has been with the company for over 35 years. The company name will soon be changed to Coursen Coating Labs, Inc. with a new website address of www.coursencoatinglabs.com.

"We are very pleased to have reached this agreement and to have sold Navitar Coating Labs to its management. The transition will be seamless to Navitar Coating Labs customers as they have always been serviced by the same core management group and will continue to receive the outstanding service they have come to expect", comments Julian Goldstein. Dan Corsen also adds, "I am extremely excited for this new opportunity to guide the company and continue to satisfy our customer’s needs."

www.navitar.com.