Teledyne, an industrial sensor giant, issued a press release announcing that it would acquire FLIR systems, a thermal imaging sensor manufacturer, in the form of stock + cash, with a total transaction value of about $8 billion.FLIR was founded in 1978. Its thermal imager products are used in the design of mobile devices (including iPhone) and in the consumer market.

According to the terms of the agreement, FLIR shareholders will receive $28.00 in cash and 0.0718 Teledyne ordinary shares per share, which means that the total purchase price per FLIR share is $56.00 based on Teledyne’s five-day weighted average price of trading volume. As part of the deal, Teledyne arranged a $4.5 billion 364 day credit commitment to fund the deal and refinance some existing debt.

Teledyne said that although both companies mainly manufacture sensors for industrial and commercial customers, they actually focus on different areas, which makes the acquisition of FLIR’s business complementary to its existing products.

“The core of our two companies is proprietary sensor technology. Our business model is also similar: we each provide customers with sensors, cameras and sensor systems,” Robert Mehrabian, chairman of Teledyne, said in a statement. He added that the sensors of the two companies “have unique complementarity, minimal overlap and imaging sensors based on different semiconductor technologies at different wavelengths.”, This is important when regulators decide whether to approve the acquisition.

Headquartered in Oregon, FLIR provides thermal imaging and night vision technology for military, industrial and civilian applications. If you have ever seen an infrared lens, you are likely to be captured by FLIR cameras. FLIR also signed an approximately $60 million “black hornet” UAV contract with the army, and its hadron thermal imager is also used for other UAVs approved by the army. FLIR also provides a heating imaging camera for zoox’s self driving robotaxi, which helps to better “see” people and driving conditions, which is particularly important in urban areas.

“FLIR’s commitment to innovation across multiple sensing technologies has made our company a multi billion dollar company today,” said Earl Lewis, FLIR chairman. “With the complementary technology platform of our new partners, we will be able to continue this development trajectory and provide more exciting growth momentum for our employees, customers and shareholders. Our board of directors fully supports this transaction, which can bring immediate value and have the opportunity to participate in the rising potential of the merged company.”

Jim cannon, President and CEO of FLIR, said: “We are excited to work with Teledyne through this value creating deal. Together, we will provide a unique and complementary end-to-end portfolio of sensing technologies for all key areas and applications in a well-balanced global customer base. We are happy to work with an organization committed to continuous innovation and operational excellence, and we hope to work closely with the Teledyne team Close cooperation because we combine the two companies to take advantage of important opportunities in the future. “

Teledyne may also have technology for autonomous vehicles: in addition to manufacturing thermal sensors for defense and industrial customers, including NASA, it is also one of the companies building lidar (light detection and ranging) sensors in the field of autonomous driving.