MultiDyne Acquires MRMC, the Motion-Control Company Nikon Offloaded

One of the biggest names in motion-control camera technology, Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC), has a new owner after being offloaded by its former owner, Nikon.

MRMC’s new owner is MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optics Systems, a signal conversion and fiber optics company. With the acquisition of MRMC’s assets, MultiDyne has established a new company, MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, which will maintain the “MRMC” brand by which Mark Roberts Motion Control is best known.

This all happened very quickly after Nikon decided to divest MRMC. Nikon acquired MRMC, which is celebrating its 60th year in business in 2026, back in September 2016. Although Nikon did not officially say how much it paid for the company, its 2017 financial documents showed an 1.1 billion yen acquisition payment, which is almost assuredly for MRMC, which would have been around $10 million at the time but is closer to $6.8 million today.

Nikon anticipated leveraging MRMC’s robotic and motion-control expertise alongside its imaging technology. The Japanese imaging giant expected MRMC to help it enter new imaging product segments. And Nikon and MRMC did make some high-quality cinema products, like the Cinebot Max just a couple of years ago, a robot that copies handheld camera movements, and robotic camera heads that enable photographers to do incredible things.

MRMC

However, as detailed in Nikon’s recent financial reports showed, MRMC was not turning a profit in recent years. As market research firm Devoncraft writes, MRMC had accumulated around £26 million worth of operating losses, which is about $34.4 million. MRMC’s revenue in FY2025 amounted to about one-third of a percentage point of Nikon’s total revenue.

Shortly after Nikon promoted Yasuhiro Ohmura to President and CEO in February, the company quickly announced plans to divest MRMC. The divestiture was announced last month, but per regulatory filings, it occurred in March.

For nearly two months, MRMC was technically owned by the British private equity firm Blandford Capital, which acquired it from Nikon.

Nikon recognized a total divestiture loss of 3.2 billion yen, or about $19.77 million at current exchange rates. These are categorized by Nikon as “one-time costs related to the contract to sell MRMC shares” and contributed to Nikon’s failure to meet its operating profit projections.

While there is little question that Nikon’s nearly 10-year MRMC ownership did not go the way the Japanese company anticipated, this appears to be a relatively positive outcome for MRMC.

“For anyone following the rapid collapse of one of filmmaking’s most recognizable motion-control names, this is the resolution the industry had been waiting for,” CineD describes.

With new ownership, it is hoped that Mark Roberts Motion Control, now MultiDyne Robotics and Motion Control, can reestablish itself as a major player in the professional cinema space. MultiDyne purchased MRMC’s technology, intellectual property, manufacturing, and engineering talent. MultiDyne, an American company, plans to let MRMC continue its operations in the United Kingdom as well.

“MRMC has earned tremendous loyalty throughout the broadcast and cinema industries because of its innovation, product quality and commitment to customer success,” says Neil Maycock of MultiDyne, who will lead MRMC as its Managing Director.

“Our priority is ensuring continuity for customers, partners and ongoing projects while creating a strong foundation for future growth. We see tremendous opportunities to expand the reach of MRMC technologies through MultiDyne’s global sales channels, customer relationships and long-term investment strategy,” Maycock continues.