Charlottesville, VA, Rochester, NY, and Billerica, MA, January 20, 2023 — Quad-C Management, Inc. (“Quad-C”), a leading middle market private equity firm, and Entegris, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENTG, “Entegris”), a leading supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for the semiconductor and other high-technology industries, today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive agreement for Quad-C to acquire QED Technologies International, Inc. (“QED”) from Entegris. QED offers state-of-the-art MRF polishing and SSI metrology manufacturing solutions that are designed to meet the needs of advanced optics manufacturers by increasing production speed and yield while decreasing costs. Entegris’ QED business is part of the company’s Specialty Chemicals and Engineered Materials (SCEM) division. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to receipt of required regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

“QED is a leader in precision optics finishing equipment, products and services, providing the most precise technologies to manufacturers in semiconductor, aerospace & defense markets,” said Tom Hickey, a Quad-C Partner, “Quad-C and our industrial tech practice are thrilled to partner with QED and its strong management team in order to execute on our shared growth strategy.” Matt Trotta, Principal at Quad-C, also added, “QED has built a reputation for excellence in precision optics over nearly three decades. We are excited to partner with the Company as it begins its next chapter as a standalone entity once again.”

About Quad-C

Founded in 1989 and headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, Quad-C is a middle market private equity firm focused on investing in well-established business and consumer services, food & beverage and consumer products, healthcare, industrials, specialty distribution, and transportation / logistics companies. In its three-decade history, Quad-C has invested over $4 billion of capital in 80 platform companies. The Quad-C team is committed to partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams to accelerate growth and create long-term value. Learn more about Quad-C at  www.quadcmanagement.com.

About QED

QED serves the global precision optics industry with solutions for high performance polishing and metrology on the most demanding surfaces and materials. QED systems are utilized by the smallest to largest manufacturers supplying the semiconductor, military, space, R&D, imaging, and other industries. QED’s contract manufacturing group, QED Optics, is the industry’s go-to resource for a combination of large, challenging, or highly precise optical components that most other manufacturers cannot produce. Additional information about QED can be found at www.qedmrf.com.

About Entegris

Entegris is a leading supplier of advanced materials and process solutions for the semiconductor and other high-tech industries. Entegris has approximately 10,000 employees throughout its global operations and is ISO 9001 certified. It has manufacturing, customer service and/or research facilities in the United States, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom. Additional information can be found at www.entegris.com.

This topic was presented at the Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference in July ’22.

Abstract:
A 1-meter aperture wide field of view astronomical imaging system was produced using optical parameter re-optimization during the manufacturing and assembly process. As-built optical and mechanical parameters were input to the optical design model to evaluate performance and guide manufacturing to achieve specified system performance requirements.

Presenter:
James Mulherin is Senior Optical Manufacturing Engineer at QED Optics, where he is involved in fabrication of a variety of large, challenging, and precise optics using QED’s MRF figuring process, and conventional optical processes. Before joining QED Optics, James worked in the industry for 25 years, making a wide variety of optics, including for telescopes up to 1.2 meters aperture. James is also experienced in optical-mechanical design, alignment, and metrology.

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Volume 3 of QED Optics’ newsletter, Optical Allusions, is now available!

Volume 2 of QED Optics’ newsletter, Optical Allusions, is now available!

QED Optics’ newsletter, Optical Allusions, keeps you in step with QED Optics: its history, manufacturing process, capabilities and more. Get to know more about QED Optics!

In September 2019, QED Optics moved into a new, expanded facility.  QED Optics is now located in an 11,000 square foot facility that is a fully equipped with both conventional and CNC polishing equipment, and metrology systems.   Now, more than ever, QED Optics can deliver “precisely what you need”.

Read this technical paper “Accounting for MRF® spot removal rate variation caused by plunge depth deviation” written by Stephen Watson, Chris Hall and Mike DeMarco of QED Optics for presentation at SPIE’s 2019 Optifab.