Viisage closes Iridian deal

Viisage has completed its purchase of Iridian Technologies Inc., a developer of iris recognition biometric technology.

The Iridian acquisition is an important step in Viisage's attempt to lead the market in handheld and multimodal biometric recognition solutions, Robert LaPenta, Viisage's chairman said in a statement.

"Direct access to Iridian's intellectual property upon which the iris recognition market is based, together with synergies from our anticipated merger with Identix later this month, should help to place us in that premier position," he said.

The Billerica, Mass., company announced last month that it was purchasing Iridian for $35 million cash. Viisage funded the acquisition primarily via a $100 million investment by L-1 Investment Partners in December 2005.

Iridian, which has positive net working capital and is debt free, is expected to produce earnings of about $3 million in 2006, Viisage said.

Iridian licenses iris recognition software and related intellectual property to hardware and software developers for applications in the government and commercial markets.

Viisage plans to integrate Iridian, currently located in Morristown, N.J., into Indentix's research facility in Jersey City, N.J., upon the closing of its merger with Identix.

Viisage, an identity solutions provider, and Identix, a biometric technology company, announced plans to merge in January.