Tekni-Plex Inc. will expand in disposable medical tubing by acquiring Natvar Co. of Clayton, N.C., for $26 million in cash.
Tekni-Plex was scheduled to complete the deal April 23. In addition to the Clayton operation, the Somerville, N.J., firm gets a plant in Lakewood, Colo.
Natvar has annual sales of about $16 million, less than Tekni-Plex's current sales in medical tubing, according to William Walkowiak, Tekni-Plex vice president of investor relations.
F. Patrick Smith, Tekni-Plex chairman and chief executive officer, said the purchase will strengthen his firm's position in medical tubing.
Tekni-Plex extrudes disposable tubing at its Plastron division in City of Industry, Calif., and Dalton, Ga., and at its Action Technology Belgium division in Brussels, Belgium.
Natvar gives Tekni-Plex a bigger presence in the eastern United States, Walkowiak said in a telephone interview. The Clayton operation has more than 10 extrusion lines, and the Lakewood plant has three more.
Although medical tubing is its biggest market, Natvar also supplies electrical, automotive, aerospace and appliance markets.
Natvar's parent company, High Voltage Engineering Corp. of Wakefield, Mass., said last year it was considering selling Natvar. Natvar represented a small portion of HV's sales and required investment to remain competitive. HV's annual sales are about $275 million. Its businesses include motor drives, analysis and monitoring equipment, power connectors and particle accelerators.
Tekni-Plex has been on a buying spree in the past few years. This year it acquired Tri-Seal International Inc. of Blauvelt, N.Y., which extrudes cap liners and seals. In 1997, Tekni-Plex bought PureTec Corp. of Ridgefield, N.J., which compounds PVC, recycles plastics and extrudes garden hose and medical tubing.
Natvar last year formed two alliances with plastic tubing extruders.
Rubicon Medical of West Valley City, Utah, a high-tech producer of specialty tubing, uses a bubble extrusion process to make tubing with variable inside and outside diameters.
Natvar also formed a partnership with Valent Medical Corp., a medical product fabricator in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, to bring a tubing extrusion operation to the island.