US technology company MKS today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Ophir Photonics optics business to TTM Technologies for $650 million cash.
As far as is known, the deal does not include Ophir’s laser division, which will remain with MKS, nor does it include the sale of the Ophir brand.
Founded in 1976, Ophir develops and manufactures products for electro-optical systems across a variety of fields. Among other things, the company produces components and assemblies utilizing infrared technology for thermal imaging and night vision, which are used for a range of applications in the defense sector.
Since being delisted from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), the company no longer publishes its financial results. However, it is estimated that the transaction was valued at a multiple of about 10x the company’s annual adjusted EBITDA.
Over its 50 years of operation, the company, based in the Har Hotzvim tech park in Jerusalem, has undergone numerous changes and changed ownership several times. The company was founded by three entrepreneurs, all holding PhDs in physics - Prof. Yaakov Zerem, Dr. Ephraim Greenfield, and Dr. Ephraim Secemski. In the early 1980s, the founders sold a portion of their shares to Orit Industries, a company then controlled by the Clal Industries conglomerate, which later sold those shares back to the founders.
In 1991, the company held an IPO on the TASE and subsequently attracted investments from prominent local market figures, including Gershon Skop and Benny Landa. In 2008, the FIMI investment fund, managed by Ishay Davidi, acquired a 20% stake in the company for $23.5 million. FIMI later realized a significant exit when the company was sold in 2011 to US firm Newport, at a valuation of about $230 million.
About a decade later, in 2016, Ophir, which had continued to operate independently from its facilities in Jerusalem and Romania, was sold, along with Newport, to MKS for $960 million. Today, the company, which has about 250 people employees is managed.by CEO Dr. Kobi Lasri.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 19, 2026.
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