Luna Innovations Incorporated sells Luna Labs for $21m

Luna Innovations Incorporated, a provider of advanced fiber optic-based technology, has sold its Luna Labs division in a deal valued at about $21 million. The divestiture is the result of an investment led by the executive management team at Luna Labs with support from Mereo Capital Partners and Point Lookout Capital Partners. Under the terms of the sale, Luna will retain a less than five percent minority equity ownership interest in this new company.

PRESS RELEASE

ROANOKE, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Luna Innovations Incorporated (NASDAQ: LUNA), a global leader in advanced fiber optic-based technology, today announced it has divested its Luna Labs division in a transaction valued at approximately $21 million. The investment was led by the executive management team at Luna Labs with support from two private equity firms, Mereo Capital Partners and Point Lookout Capital Partners. Under the terms of the sale, Luna will retain a less than five percent minority equity ownership interest in this new company.

“The sale of Luna Labs marks a final step in the simplification of our portfolio; something we announced several years ago when we set our strategy to focus our capital and resources on the fiber optics markets,” said Scott Graeff, President and Chief Executive Officer of Luna. “While not core to the fiber optic-based technologies of Luna, we are nonetheless incredibly proud of the critical work the Luna Labs team has accomplished over the years and look forward to their continued success under the leadership of the new company.”

Graeff continued, “With this divestiture, Luna is now a pure-play fiber optic-based technology company, and we look forward to leveraging our industry-leading, proprietary fiber optics platform to better serve our customers and to generate long-term growth for our investors and employees.”

“It is a privilege for me to be able to continue to lead the Luna Labs business as we transition to being a separate, private company,” said James Garrett, CEO of the newly formed entity. “With over 75 years of experience between myself and my executive leadership team, we will continue to aggressively grow our contract research capabilities as a private company and accelerate our product commercialization.”

Leo Helmers, Managing Partner at Mereo Capital Partners, said, “We are excited to partner with such an experienced management team on this investment and look forward to working with them to create value.”

Luna was advised by Cooley LLP and Woods Rogers PLC with transaction financing provided by M&T Bank. Any disclosed transaction details may be found in Luna’s Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Administration and found on the Luna website under https://ir.lunainc.com/sec-filings.

About Luna
Luna Innovations Incorporated (www.lunainc.com) is a leader in optical technology, providing unique capabilities in high-performance, fiber optic-based, test products for the telecommunications industry and distributed fiber optic-based sensing for a multitude of industries. Luna’s business model is designed to accelerate the process of bringing new and innovative technologies to market.