Private equity firm Riverside Co. has acquired a majority stake in medical injection molder Coeur Inc. for an undisclosed price.
Lebanon, Tenn.-based Coeur employs about 150 and is on track for sales of $31 million this year. The firm makes single-use disposable products, including power syringes at a plant in Washington, N.C., and tubing products at a site in Sheboygan, Wis. The 10-year-old business sells to medical-device original equipment manufacturers, medical products distributors, hospitals and other medical businesses. Materials used in Coeur's products include polycarbonate, polypropylene and PVC.
Coeur is owned in part by Indianapolis private equity firm Hammond, Kennedy, Whitney & Co. Inc. Along with Riverside's majority stake, several Coeur executives — including brothers Michael and William ``Jay'' Cude — will continue to own part of the firm. Jay Cude is Coeur's president and chief executive officer, while Michael Cude is the firm's executive vice president.
Riverside, based in Cleveland, owns 32 portfolio companies and has completed more than 200 merger and acquisition deals in its 20-year history, including 15 health-care transactions. Plastics-related businesses owned by Riverside include Hudson-Sharp Machine Co., a producer of bag-making machines in Green Bay, Wis.; and three companies involved in processing — Commonwealth Laminating & Coating Inc. of Martinsville, Va.; Connor Sport Court International of Salt Lake City; and Stoffel Seals Corp. of Nyack, N.Y.
``Demand for Coeur's specialized medical products should continue to grow as the population ages and requires more diagnostic and therapeutic procedures,'' Riverside partner Steve Dyke said in an Oct. 14 news release.
``Health care is less likely to be impacted by a recession than other industries and markets,'' Riverside managing general partner Stewart Kohl said in an Oct. 16 phone interview. ``Coeur buys resin and then adds a lot of value to the finished product.''
Kohl added Riverside will look into possible add-ons to the Coeur business and to make more deals in the overall medical market.
Jay Cude added that Coeur's ``proven ability to integrate companies, coupled with Riverside's specialty strength in health care, will result in exciting organic and add-on growth scenarios for the company.''
The Cude brothers have been active with plastics trade groups over their careers. Jay currently serves on the national Board of Directors, the Executive Board, and is treasurer of the Washington-based Society of the Plastics Industry Inc. Mike has served as chairman of the medical division of the Society of Plastics Engineers and is currently a board member of SPE's medical plastics division.
Coeur nearly doubled in size in 2004 when it acquired its Sheboygan site from VPI LLC.