Thermo Buys X-Ray Analyzer Co.

WALTHAM, Mass., March 29 -- Thermo Electron announced today it has purchased Niton LLC for approximately $40.5 million in cash, subject to a post-closing adjustment. Niton, based in Billerica, Mass., is a provider of portable x-ray analyzers for the metals, petrochemical and environmental markets, with revenues of $36 million in 2004.

Marijn E. Dekkers, president and CEO of Thermo Electron, said, "The addition of Niton is a continuation of our strategy to acquire companies that extend our capabilities so we can better serve the emerging needs of our customers. Niton helps Thermo bring a traditional laboratory-based analytical technique to settings outside the laboratory. Its portable products can quickly identify the composition of a wide range of metals, which is becoming increasingly important as new regulations controlling the use and disposal of toxic metals in various consumer products take effect, particularly in Europe and Japan."

Niton's portable x-ray analyzers provide nondestructive testing of a variety of metals for industrial customers in a manufacturing, quality control and quality assurance, environmental testing and recycling processes. Niton will become part of the scientific instruments product line of Thermo's Life and Laboratory Sciences segment.

For more information, visit: www.thermo.com