Canon Inc., best known for its cameras, is developing a strong interest in a Saanichton-based chipmaker as it makes a play for the medical device field.
The Japanese multinational will pay about $345 million to expand its 15% ownership stake of Redlen Technologies Inc. to 100% in a deal that ultimately values the company at just north of $400 million.
The firm specializes in 颅manufacturing the types of semiconductors used in 颅medical imaging systems as well as 颅baggage scanners.
Redlen CEO Glenn Bindley said he鈥檚 excited about the 颅potential for the Canon takeover to help his company expand both its physical footprint and its headcount in the coming years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an exciting 颅development for us because we can see how much they can help us in the areas where we鈥檙e weak,鈥� he said, adding Redlen 颅leadership will be sticking around to 颅oversee expansion plans in the coming years.
鈥淣ow we really need to scale it up and drive the costs down and they can really help us in that area.鈥�
Canon came on as a 颅strategic investor back in 2018 and 颅Bindley said the new parent company is fully on board with Redlen鈥檚 $40-million plan to 颅double its 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.
Meanwhile, the Saanichton company will be expanding its head count from 200 颅workers to 450 workers by 2025 as it hires experts in everything from 颅automation to product 颅engineering.
鈥淚n many respects, it鈥檚 easier to bring people into Victoria than it is to Vancouver because there is a little bit of an advantage in terms of cost of living,鈥� Bindley said.
Canon will be using Redlen鈥檚 cadmium zinc telluride chips as part of its efforts to launch the next-generation of CT (computer tomography) systems.
Bindley likened current CT聽systems to a camera with one-megapixel capacity that can only shoot in black and white. The next generation, known as 颅photon-counting CT scanners, would be the equivalent of upgrading to a camera with 10 megapixels that can shoot in full colour.
鈥淚f you think of the automobile industry, there鈥檚 a sea change from internal combustion to electric vehicles. CT is in a similar situation,鈥� Bindley said.
Redlen鈥檚 chips would essentially allow Canon鈥檚 medical devices to take clearer images while exposing patients to lower X-ray radiation levels.
Last month, Canon Medical Systems Corp. 鈥� a customer of Redlen鈥檚 and a subsidiary of Canon Inc. 鈥� announced it was launching its first trial of these next-generation medical imaging systems as part of a research project with Japan鈥檚 national cancer centre.
Redlen鈥檚 chips will be deployed in the new 颅technology as part of the trial.
鈥淚t really is going to make a huge difference to just innumerable patients,鈥� Bindley said.
Vancouver-based Pangaea Ventures Ltd. previously led a $5.5-million financing round for Redlen back in 2014 and owns 20% of the company ahead of the official close of the acquisition, expected at the end of the month.
鈥淭hey stepped in and led the round to pull us back from the brink and recapitalize the company,鈥� Bindley said, referring to a crash crunch Redlen faced during early efforts to commercialize.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been very, very, very supportive.鈥�
