Two medical tubing contract manufacturers with complementary product lines are combining forces, creating a company that can offer both silicone and thermoplastic tubing for cardiovascular, neurological and other intravenous catheter markets.
Vesta Inc. of Franklin, Wis., has acquired ExtruMed LLC of Placentia, Calif. The combined companies will have five production facilities and make more than 60 million medical device components annually.
“This is a merger of strategies and focuses, not a consolidation of facilities” between the two companies, said Jim Fitzgerald, vice president of sales and marketing at silicone tubing and medical device maker Vesta, in a March 26 telephone interview.
Fitzgerald said Vesta and ExtruMed will keep their own identities.
“At this time, we do not have plans to change the names associated with either business,” or to consolidate headquarters at a single location, he said. “ExtruMed will continue to run ExtruMed. Vesta will continue to run Vesta.”
ExtruMed has three California plants in Placentia, Temucula and Livermore, Calif., that are ISO 13485:2003-certified. Vesta has a plant in Franklin that is ISO 13485:2003-registered and one in Portage, Wis., that is ISO 9001-registered. Vesta's Web site says it plans to expand in 2009, but the firm would not confirm that.
Terms were not disclosed. But GE Healthcare Financial provided an $89 million credit line to Vesta to help it complete the deal.
Lake Forest, Ill.-based RoundTable Healthcare Partners has owned a majority stake in Vesta since August 2007. The private equity firm is focused exclusively on the health-care industry.
Adding ExtruMed's thermoplastics capabilities to Vesta's in making silicone components broadens the capabilities the firms can provide to their customers, said Joseph Damico, Vesta chairman and Roundtable founding partner, in a news release.
“We believe that Vesta will be able to enhance our market position through their operational, sales and marketing expertise as well as their relationships with medical device OEMs,” said ExtruMed CEO Bill Ellerkamp.
Fitzgerald said the firms will leverage Vesta's strength in secondary operations like cutting, drilling and assembly to expand ExtruMed.