Ceres Provides Corporate Finance Services to AF Optical on Sale of OPTOFORM to Edmund Optics


Needham, Massachusetts – January 19, 2012
Ceres Technology Advisors is pleased to announce that it provided corporate finance and product marketing services to AF Optical, Inc. on the divestiture of its OPTOFORM product line to Edmund Optics Inc., a global market leader in optics, imaging, and photonics technology.

AF Optical

AF Optical supplies optomechanical design and engineering services. Led by Ali Afshari, the company invented, manufactured and distributed OPTOFORM, a patented, off-the-shelf optomechanical component system that was acquired by Edmund Optics and will now exclusively be sold as the TECHSPEC® Optical Cage System.

“The acquisition of OPTOFORM by Edmund Optics promises to realize many exciting inventions in photonics,” says Linda Smith of Ceres.

The Product Line

The TECHSPEC® Optical Cage System, previously known as OPTOFORM, is used by researchers and product developers worldwide for rapid prototyping and optical instrumentation design.

Flexibility and precision are at the core of its elegantly simple design – allowing users to quickly build complex instrumentation with off-the-shelf components. The integrated product line accommodates commercially available optics, lasers, light sources, detectors, and cameras – further facilitating the design process.

The Background

Ceres worked closely with AF Optical on product marketing issues to position the product line for sale to a strategic buyer.

“Linda at Ceres intimately knew the value and competitive advantages of OPTOFORM – having product management and hands-on applications engineering expertise,” says Ali Afshari, Founder and President of AF Optical. “She was instrumental in initiating and developing our relationship with Edmund Optics – a sales, service and distribution powerhouse that will take my invention, OPTOFORM, to inventors, researchers, and product developers worldwide.”

Linda Smith

“It was a refreshing experience working with Ceres. Linda understood well the strategic fit of the product line,” says Samuel Sadoulet, EVP of Engineering and Manufacturing for Edmund Optics, “as well as helping with the integration and technology transfer.”

The Future

Edmund Optics will launch The TECHSPEC® Optical Cage System, www.edmundoptics.com/cage-system, at Photonics West in San Francisco this January. “We are thrilled to bring this affordable and off-the-shelf flexibility to our customers’ design process,” says Petra Lepke, Market Development Manager at Edmund Optics.

About AF Optical, Inc.

AF Optical supplies optomechanical design and engineering services including solutions and systems for scanning probe microscopy alignment and scientific learning toys for children. The company is led by Ali Afshari, an expert and serial inventor in the field of optomechanics and large-format, SLR, and cine cameras. AF Optical invented, manufactured and distributed OPTOFORM, a patented, off-the-shelf optomechanical component system used by inventors and product developers worldwide to realize optical instrumentation and devices.

About Ceres Technology Advisors

Ceres Technology Advisors is a corporate finance consulting firm that focuses on developing profitable relationships between buyers, sellers and investors around photonics technologies. Its value to clients is the breadth and depth of its network and knowledge of the photonics industry and the vertical market segments enabled by photonics. With hands-on experience planning and managing at both strategic and operational levels, Ceres delivers exit planning that both captures the value of the technology business and is practically executed and financed.  cerescom.net

About Edmund Optics, Inc.

Edmund Optics® (EO) is a leading producer of optics, imaging, and photonics technology for R&D, electronics, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, biomedical, and military markets around the globe. EO is the world’s largest supplier of off-the-shelf optical components.  edmundoptics.com

For more information, please contact Ceres Technology Advisors:

Linda Smith
(781)453-1906
LindaSmith@cerescom.net