Horiba Instruments Acquires All Shares of Manta Instruments

Horiba, Ltd has announced that Horiba Instruments Incorporated acquired all shares of Manta Instruments, Inc on 24 January 2019. Manta has earned a high reputation for its nanoparticle characterisation technology by using a breakthrough multispectral nanoparticle tracking technique that was developed and patented by the University of California, San Diego. This leading developer, manufacturer, and supplier of nanoparticle tracking analysis systems is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Horiba Instruments. This expands Horiba’s technology of particle characterisation instruments.

Horiba develops, manufactures, and sells nanoparticle tracking analysis systems used in life-science, semiconductor manufacturing process and environmental process.

The latest model of Manta’s nanoparticle tracking analysis systems, the ViewSizer® 3000, emits a laser beam at nanoparticles in Brownian motion in a fluid to track them and, by means of image analysis, evaluates size distribution, number concentration, and the aggregation state of particles from 10 nanometers in size with high resolution. In the fluorescence mode, fluorescently labelled particles can be measured. This innovative instrument is expected to meet customer needs in the life science and pharmaceutical research markets, which require data on particle number concentration, as well as in the cosmetics, catalysis, and semiconductor markets, where measurement in the nanoregion is essential. The particle characterisation instruments market, which Manta’s ViewSizer 3000® belongs to, is estimated to reach 2.06 billion yen in 2019 and continue to expand at a compound average growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% up to 2022 (Company data).

After the completion of the acquisition process, Manta’s development and production functions will be transferred to Horiba Instruments, thus commencing the development of the next-generation model by capitalising on Horiba’s proprietary technologies. When combined with existing optical technologies, Manta’s image processing technology is expected to contribute to in-vitro diagnostics, regenerative medicine, and research and development of biopharmaceuticals, in addition to particle measurement. Horiba also plans to apply this advanced technology to CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) slurries in the semiconductor field and aquatic nanoparticle measurement in the environmental field.