NEW YORK (Reuters) - Viisage Technology Inc. VISG.O could become an acquisition target as it looks to establish itself as a leader in the growing field of high-tech identity-verification products designed to thwart crime and terrorism, the company's chairman said on Wednesday.
Viisage is also looking to acquisitions to build out its line or products in the field of biometrics, which includes fingerprint and face-recognition technology that is used for drivers' licenses, passports, voter registration and building security, said Viisage Chairman Robert LaPenta.
The biometrics market is poised to grow at an annual rate of some 40 percent over the next few years, outpacing other segments of the information-technology and security industries, LaPenta said at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in New York, citing forecasts from several market research firms.
Any company that can establish itself as a leader in that hot market could end up getting bought by one of the large industrial conglomerates already consolidating the security industry, LaPenta said.
"If I were the chairman of GE (General Electric Co. (GE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)), at some point I would be very interested in this company," said LaPenta, adding that it would also make sense for Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Honeywell International Inc. (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to be interested.
GE acquired bomb-detection equipment maker InVision Technologies Inc. in 2004 for $900 million and has said security is one of the fastest-growing parts of the company. Honeywell and United Technologies Corp. (UTX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have also done acquisitions to beef up their positions in the security market.
LaPenta did caution that stock price valuations among biometrics companies might be too rich for some potential buyers.
Viisage's shares, which have a market capitalization of about $350 million, have risen 70 percent in the last six months. The company is due to report quarterly earnings on Thursday and analysts polled by Reuters Estimates forecast it to post a loss of 33 cents a share on sales of $65 million.
Before the transformation can begin, Viisage needs to close a merger with Identix Inc. IDNX.O, a deal that it announced in January and hopes to close by the end of May. Continued...
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.
| Global Environment | Oct 06 - 8, 2008 | Energy |
| Autos II | Sep 30 - Oct 01, 2008 | Hotels/Casinos |
| Restructuring | Sep 22 - 26, 2008 | Financial Services/Exchanges |
| Autos | Sep 15 - 17, 2008 | Autos |
| Russia Investment | Sep 08 - 9, 2008 | Country Summits |
