PolyTen Plastics LLC of Gallatin, Tenn., has acquired a North Carolina medical device business. The firm also is nearing a significant production pact for another operating unit and plans to boost its management ranks.
PolyTen purchased the Coeur Laboratories Inc. subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed PharmaNetics Inc. on June 15 for about $1.8 million.
Coeur employs 25, produces proprietary large-barrel syringes for use during diagnostic cardiology and radiology procedures and had 1998 sales of about $4.6 million.
``The business is based on a number of patents that enable a Coeur proprietary product to fit on a variety of manufacturers' equipment,'' Jay Cude, PolyTen president, said in a telephone interview.
Coeur makes disposable power-injection syringes that are used to deliver contrast media to an anatomical area being observed with medical imaging equipment.
PolyTen acquired the Coeur trademark and will operate the business from a 20,0000-square-foot leased facility in Raleigh, N.C., for at least a year. Denise Coryea continues as Coeur general manager.
PharmaNetics acquired the business in 1993. Coeur, formed in 1987, subcontracts its injection molding work.
Meanwhile, PolyTen's molding unit in Washington, N.C., is close to an agreement to design and produce small appliances for a customer in England. The work should increase the unit's annual sales to about $5 million in 2000 from the current $3 million, Cude said.
PolyTen acquired the molder, then known as Pamlico Technical Molding Inc., on Sept. 1. The operation has a core strength in combining molded components, electronic controls and motors. Cude expects the division to achieve ISO 9001 registration by September.
PolyTen is hiring three senior managers at its Gallatin headquarters with an eye on further expanding in the proprietary medical device industry through acquisitions and internal growth.
Carol Wood, vice president of finance, was chief financial officer with Professional Medical Products of Greenwood, S.C., and previously spent a decade with accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
J. Michael Cude, vice president of engineering and research and development, was director of engineering for DeRoyal Industry Inc.'s plastics group of Powell, Tenn. He is chairman of the Society of Plastics Engineers' medical division. Jay and Michael Cude are brothers.
Debra Manning, vice president of quality and regulatory affairs, was quality manager with American National Can Co.'s medical flexible packaging facility in Asheville, N.C., and previously was DeRoyal Industry's director of regulatory affairs.
Jay Cude and Birge Sigety incorporated PolyTen as a Delaware limited liability company in February 1998. Sigety is president and chief executive officer of Tampa, Fla.-based Bison Investments Inc.