Damon Corp. accepted a $223-million takeover offer...

Damon Corp. accepted a $223-million takeover offer from a group led by American Magnetics Corp. in Sherman Oaks, apparently ending Damon’s seven-month battle to remain independent. However, the companies’ agreement also allows Damon, a Needham Heights, Mass.-based operator of clinical laboratories, to solicit other offers for 30 days. American Magnetics makes optical-character recognition equipment, the machines used to scan credit card data at store checkout counters and the devices inside automated teller machines that read customers’ bank cards.