Menicon Acquires Lagado Corporation

NAGOYA, Japan, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Menicon Co., Ltd. announced on June 16 that Menicon and Lagado Corporation based in Colorado, USA, reached an agreement for Lagado to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Menicon America Inc., effective as of June 14, 2010.

Lagado will continue to operate from its current location in Englewood, Colorado, as a supplier of contact lens materials to custom gas permeable (GP) and soft contact lens manufacturers. The acquisition by Menicon will enable Lagado to further improve its product range and enhance the service level to Lagado's existing customers worldwide, and will help Menicon expand its global presence in the custom contact lens market. Menicon will expand its product offerings to custom manufacturers by adding the Lagado product line to Menicon Z and other Menicon polymer products.

Lagado's R&D innovation is well known and respected in the industry and it is Menicon's intention to maintain and further intensify the material R&D activities at Lagado under the direction of Bill Hoffman, noted polymer chemist and co-founder of Lagado. Hoffman will remain as a consultant to Lagado for the next five years.

"Menicon's deep commitment to high-performance oxygen permeable contact lenses is one of the key reasons for expansion into the custom contact lens materials field. Lagado provides a base from which to develop new and innovative polymers for custom lens applications, and creates for Menicon an expanded connection to the community of specialist contact lens labs and fitters in North America and beyond. It is not Menicon's intention to restart lens manufacturing in North America. Rather, Menicon plans to deliver exceptional services and technology to the custom lens laboratories as a lens material supplier as well as a dependable business partner," commented Toshio Matsushima, Senior Executive Officer, Menicon Co.

Hoffman, Lagado co-founder, commented on the acquisition by Menicon: "We see this as a tremendous opportunity for Lagado to expand our service and product offerings to all our existing customers. Combining Lagado and Menicon's polymer science experience and capabilities will take Lagado R&D into new directions. It will also help take Lagado products into new markets where we haven't had a

presence."    

The management team to lead Lagado forward will be headed by Jonathan Jacobson, President of Menicon America. Jacobson added, "I am pleased to welcome Lagado Corporation into Menicon as I am very enthusiastic about Lagado's products, and am confident that with Menicon's additional resources, coupled with Lagado's existing customer base and product range, we will be able to serve the needs of the custom lab community and specialty contact lens fitters well into the future."

About Lagado

Lagado Corporation, founded by Bill and Renata Hoffman in 1999, is a producer of specialty polymers used in the production of GP and soft contact lenses. The company supplies its products to customers all over the world. It has recently launched a latheable silicone hydrogel material to meet the growing demand for custom soft lenses.

About Menicon

Menicon Co., Ltd. (www.menicon.com), founded by Kyoichi Tanaka in 1951, is Japan's first and largest contact lens manufacturer, and now is represented in over 30 countries. Menicon is a manufacturer dedicated to all areas of soft and GP contact lens-related businesses including material development, lens designing, and manufacturing of contact lenses and care solutions. Menicon is a world leader in the development of hyper-Dk GP (Menicon Z) and soft contact lenses (Menicon PremiO).  

SOURCE Menicon Co., Ltd.