The story
The company was founded 1975 in Hamburg, Germany as "SINAR Laser Systeme Verkaufsgesellschaft mbH". Sinar is the Sanskrit for "beam of light", but this name was already used by a Swiss manufacturer of cameras. By taking over the British enterprise Rofin, the company changed its name to ROFIN-SINAR Laser GmbH.
In 2015, Rofin came under significant pressure by an investor, SilverArrow Capital, to exchange the companies independent directors based on questions on compliance and below average management performance. SilverArrow, a London-based activist investment firm and one of the largest shareholders of the company, claimed in various public letters that the company was lacking an adequate growth strategy and had missed market opportunities for years. Before the shareholders could have a final vote on the claim in the upcoming Annual General Meeting the company announced it was being acquired by a competitor company, Coherent Inc.
From Wikipedia’s article on Rofin-Sinar, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4