Motorola Inc. is selling an Anaheim-based unit to France’s Safran for undisclosed terms.

The Anaheim unit makes computer fingerprint identification systems for police, legal and commercial customers around the world.

The sale is expected to close by the first quarter after regulatory approvals. The unit is set to become part of Safran’s Sagem Defense Securite subsidiary.

Safran also makes aircraft engines, missile systems, aircraft landing gear and brakes and other defense and aerospace products.

Motorola is selling the Anaheim business to focus on its communications operations.

The Anaheim unit got its start as Printrak International Inc., which Motorola bought for $160 million in 2000.

Printrak’s fingerprint identification systems are used by police agencies to scan and identify crime-scene fingerprints or to take a suspect’s fingerprints and check them against a database for prior convictions.

In Printrak's early life, the company was a unit of Britain’s De La Rue PLC, before a 1989 management buyout.

The company went public in 1996, raising $16 million.

Source:ocbj