Teradyne acquires Universal Robots, a leader in collaborative robots

Teradyne and the shareholders of Universal Robots (UR) have announced they have signed an agreement under which Teradyne will acquire privately held Universal Robots, the Danish supplier of collaborative robots, for $285 million, plus $65 million if certain performance targets are met extending through 2018.

The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015.

Universal Robots is a leading supplier of collaborative robots that work side by side with production workers. According to a release, collaborative robotics is a $100 million segment of the industrial robotics market, growing at more than 50% per year.

“Universal Robots is the technology and sales leader in the fast growing collaborative robot market and we are excited to have them join Teradyne,” said Mark Jagiela, president and CEO of Teradyne. “This acquisition complements our system and wireless test businesses while adding a powerful, additional growth platform to Teradyne.”

Universal Robots achieved record revenue growth in 2014. Company revenue increased 70% from 2013 reaching more than $38 million, with profit more than doubling from the prior period.

“The combination will boost our ability to innovate and recruit even more and thus will extend our lead within collaborative robotics and be of benefit to all our end-users and partners,” said Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of Universal Robots. “Teradyne’s world-class engineering and support capabilities and strong financial position will help accelerate the growth of our collaborative robots in new and existing markets, especially in Asia where Teradyne holds a very strong position.”

The Danish Growth Fund, (Vækstfonden), has been the company’s main investor since 2008.