A II-VI employee handles an optical coatings component within the II-VI Photonics Segment in Clinton Township. The company has announced it intends to buy its long time partner.

An optoelectronic component maker has announced plans to buy a longtime partner.

II-VI, which works with optical solutions for networks, announced Monday its intent to acquire its former partner CoAdna, Holdings, a California-based company, in a cash transaction valued at about $85 million at closing. The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

“CoAdna and II-VI have been great business partners for many years, leveraging each other's complementary products and technologies to serve the optical transport market,” said Sunny Sun, president of II-VI Photonics Segment.

Mark Lourie, director of corporate communications, said the switch plays a major role in their optical communications line.

“It's used to switch the wavelength of light around the optical network,” Lourie said.

Lourie said the purchase does not complete II-VI's portfolio, as the company does not manufacture all the parts. But they now have all the vital pieces.

Since then, Lourie said the company is so vertically integrated in optical communications that the company can manufacture some smaller components or the complete product, which is what's called a line card.

“We can talk about having all the components and modules all the way up to the line card,” Lourie said. “Vertical integration is not really a goal, it's a strength for the company.”

He said the market provides longevity to the line too.

Read the full story in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.