The Bruker Corporation has closed a deal with Oxford Instruments for the $17.5 million acquisition of Oxford’s Superconducting Wire LLC (OST). In the transaction, Bruker Energy and Supercon Technologies, Inc. (BEST), a Bruker subsidiary, acquired all shares of OST and announced the intent to fold the Carteret NJ based company into its advanced superconducting materials business.

“This is a clearly synergistic acquisition for BEST that expands our LTS capacity, our reach into the US market and into China, as well as into the superconductivity and magnet research community,” says Dr. Burkhard Prause, president and CEO of BEST. “It will allow BEST to better serve our global customers with improved response times, accelerated innovation, higher flexibility and more localized content.”

Superconducting wires are used primarily in healthcare and scientific instrumentation. Examples include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnets, as well as high-energy physics and fusion, accelerator, confinement and detector magnets for large-scale science projects.

In a statement, BEST says OST’s unique Rod Restack Process conductor portfolio, already used by many international fusion and high-energy physics projects, will expand its existing technology portfolio. BEST also has an emerging, high temperature superconductivity (HTS) business based on second generation HTS tape technology and optimized for ultrahigh field magnet applications.

“Our MRI OEM customers have accelerated their own innovation cycles and expect critical partners to keep up with their magnet developments,” says Prause. “This acquisition will allow BEST and OST to improve our cost, productivity and margin position over time, in order to offer highest performance, quality and optimized total cost of ownership to our customers. OST has tremendous experience and great products, and we welcome our new colleagues to our team.”

According to the Bruker release, BEST has experienced significant growth in the LTS market for several years, following major capacity, automation and quality control investments, and the acquisition of OST will enhance BEST’s capabilities along the entire production chain with the goal to provide even higher performance, quality and delivery flexibility to its LTS customers.

Oxford Instruments says the decision to sell its OST assets was reached after a comprehensive review determined the company no longer fit within Oxford’s broader long-term strategic vision. “OST remains a high-quality business,” says Ian Barkshire, CEO at Oxford Instruments. “Its acquisition by BEST will allow the realization of synergies of scale for both organizations. The business will be better positioned to ensure the ongoing success in this market and the high quality of care for employees and customers that OST is well known for.”