Astronics Corporation, a leader in advanced, high-performance lighting, electrical power and automated test systems for the global aerospace and defense industries, has acquired privately-held Ballard Technology, an Everett, WA company that designs and produces avionics interface solutions for defense and commercial aerospace applications. Astronics acquired all of the stock of Ballard for $24m in cash. An additional purchase consideration of up to $5.5m may be paid by Astronics if Ballard achieves certain revenue growth targets over each of the next five years.
Founded in 1986, Ballard is projecting 2011 annual revenue of approximately $11.0m, achieving a compound annual growth rate during the previous three years of over 20%. Ballard's databus products can be used anytime avionics systems on an aircraft are upgraded.