Sunnyvale, Calif., March 16, 2011—Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire certain assets related to the OmniSTAR™ Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signal corrections business from Fugro N.V. The acquisition is expected to significantly expand Trimble’s worldwide ability to provide correction services for land-based agriculture, construction, mapping and Geographic Information System (GIS) and survey applications. Trimble and Fugro also entered into a multi-year service agreement which includes Fugro’s ongoing operation of its correction network and satellite service broadcast systems that power the OmniSTAR service. Fugro’s offshore marine business is unaffected. Closing of the transaction, anticipated in the first quarter, is subject to certain closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OmniSTAR provides space-based GNSS correction services that can improve the accuracy of a GNSS receiver for precise positioning applications. Currently, there are four levels of OmniSTAR service: "VBS" offering sub-meter positioning, "XP" delivering better than 20 centimeter accuracy and "HP" delivering greater than10 centimeter accuracy. In addition, the new OmniSTAR "G2" service combines GPS plus GLONASS based corrections to provide decimeter level positioning.
Trimble pioneered RTK technology in the early 1990s, which enabled high-accuracy corrections for field applications. RTK is now recognized as the industry leading technology for centimeter-level positioning. To further improve accuracy Trimble subsequently introduced VRS™ technology in 2000 and shortly after that, Trimble VRS Now™ Service.
"With the addition of the OmniSTAR services and our strong relationship with Fugro, we will offer a full range of high-precision positioning capabilities which now includes satellite-delivered corrections," said Patricia Boothe, general manager of Trimble’s newly-formed Positioning Services Division. "Today, our agriculture customers use OmniSTAR services to perform planting, harvesting, variable rate application and many other operations. Our expanded portfolio will provide not only farmers, but also surveying, construction and GIS professionals with more options to satisfy their particular accuracy, delivery and financial needs."
"Trimble and OmniSTAR have enjoyed a long standing relationship," said John Waits, president of OmniSTAR. "The transfer of land-based GNSS signal corrections assets marks the next phase of our efforts to bring a broader range of positioning services to our combined customer base, on land and offshore. The OmniSTAR and Fugro teams remain committed to providing industry leading corrections services for customers who own a variety of GNSS receivers."
The OmniSTAR business will be reported as part of Trimble’s Engineering and Construction segment.
About OmniSTAR and Fugro
OmniSTAR is a wide-area differential GPS service, using satellite broadcast techniques. For the sub-meter service, data from many widely-spaced Reference Stations is used in a proprietary multi-site solution over most land areas worldwide. The high-accuracy HP solution uses more sophisticated data from these reference sites and XP uses satellite orbit and clock correction data which is independent of reference site location. For more than 25 years, OmniSTAR has been involved in precise positioning. In the mid-1980’s, before GPS was fully operational, the precursor of OmniSTAR provided North America with the world’s first round-the-clock satellite positioning service. OmniSTAR is a member of the Fugro Group (www.fugro.com) of companies with offices throughout the world. Fugro operates the largest array of reference sites of any company anywhere in the world and is the world leader in providing wide-area, Differential GPS (DGPS) correction services using satellite broadcast. For more information, please visit: www.omnistar.com.
About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. For more information, visit Trimble’s Web site at: www.trimble.com.
Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may differ materially from those described in this news release. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the satisfaction of conditions to closing the asset purchase and the timing of such closing; Trimble’s ability to significantly expand its worldwide correction services and to provide more options to professional customers that satisfy their needs; and maintain commercial agreements with customers, and with Fugro, which will continue to operate the network and satellite service broadcast system that power the OmniSTAR service. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key personnel and commercial relationships. More information about potential factors which could affect Trimble’s business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. All forward looking statements are based on information available to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation to update such statements.
