Malvern Instruments has acquired Wiltshire-based NanoSight Ltd, specialists in technology and instruments that are used worldwide to measure the size and other characteristics of nano-sized materials.

Paul Walker, managing director of Malvern Instruments, said: "NanoSight is a real entrepreneurial success story and I am delighted to be welcoming the NanoSight team to Malvern. NanoSight has grown every year since it was established in 2002 and has ambitious plans for the future. We will be providing the investment and support needed to continue this drive forward and will be developing the NanoSight brand within the Malvern portfolio."

Malvern Instruments is a long-established and highly successful company that develops and manufactures scientific instruments. These instruments are used in laboratories and as part of industrial manufacturing processes to measure and control properties of materials that have an impact on how a final product performs. Malvern’s instruments play an important role in almost every industrial sector, from the development and manufacture of medicines to the production of cement and other bulk materials.

NanoSight has developed and commercialized a unique and patented technology, Nano Particle Tracking Analysis (NTA). The company’s instrumentation and software allow fast analysis of many different types of nanosized particles. NanoSight systems are closely aligned with Malvern’s existing solutions for those working at the nanoscale.

"Malvern Instruments has an established and fast-expanding range of analytical instruments designed for measuring the properties of nanomaterials. However, demand for new technologies to meet the needs of this highly active field of development has never been greater," continues Paul Walker. "This is a very exciting time and by bringing together complementary, leading edge technologies, Malvern continues to focus on delivering the analytical tools that laboratories so urgently need."

Currently the largest applications area for NanoSight’s NTA technology is in life sciences. Here it is used for the measurement of biological nano particles important in drug discovery, disease prognosis, diagnosis and monitoring as well as personalized medicine.

Jeremy Warren, CEO of NanoSight, said: "We have always seen Malvern as the clear leader in our sector, and the exemplar of what we wish to become. The plans we have are ambitious and exciting, and the support and reach of the Malvern organization will allow us to grow more rapidly than we could alone. I am sure that this change will bring opportunity to both our business and our colleagues. Malvern is our natural home."

NanoSight employs 50 people worldwide and will continue to operate from its current facilities in Amesbury, Wiltshire, UK, under the existing management team. Malvern’s direct sales operations in key geographies and wider global presence will be used to make the NanoSight instruments and after sales support even more accessible to a wider market.