PAOLI, PA-Ametek Inc. announced that it has acquired Atlas Material Testing Technology LLC, the world's leading provider of weathering test instruments and related testing and consulting services, from Industrial Growth Partners for approximately $159 million in cash.

Atlas is headquartered in Chicago with additional manufacturing operations in Germany and a network of outdoor and laboratory testing facilities around the globe. It has expected 2011 sales of approximately $85 million.

Atlas' products include weather exposure test systems, corrosion-testing instruments, specialty lighting systems, and large-scale weathering test chambers. In addition, Atlas offers indoor laboratory and outdoor testing services, photovoltaic and solar testing and consulting. Its customers include testing laboratories and leading aerospace, paint, coating, polymer, plastic, solar/photovoltaic, pharmaceutical, LED and automotive manufacturers.

Atlas' products and services are used by their customers in both new product development and quality assurance applications, to assess product performance, reliability and compliance with industry standards and specifications. These instruments test the effects of weathering by simulating exposure to sunlight, temperature, moisture and corrosion.

"Atlas is an excellent addition to Ametek. It is the clear global leader in this niche market and enjoys an excellent reputation with its customers and international standards setting organizations. Atlas provides us with another growth platform in the highly attractive materials testing equipment market and broadens our presence in the fast-growing photovoltaic testing market," notes Frank S. Hermance, Ametek chairman and chief executive officer.

Atlas joins Ametek as part of Ametek Measurement & Calibration Technologies (M&CT), a division of Ametek's Electronic Instruments Group (EIG)-a recognized leader in advanced monitoring, testing, calibrating and display instruments with expected 2010 sales of approximately $1.3 billion.

Ametek M&CT designs, manufactures and distributes material test instruments for a wide range of applications such as tensile, hardness and force testing, instruments for high accuracy temperature, pressure and signal calibration, and a suite of sensors for pressure, level, position and temperature. Ametek M&CT serves a global and diverse customer base with manufacturing and engineering operations in the United States, Denmark and the United Kingdom , and a worldwide network of sales and service locations.