Schweitzer-Mauduit International Inc. (SWM) is acquiring certain assets from the advanced wound management division of London-based Smith & Nephew plc.
The business being carved out of Smith & Nephew is a facility in Gilberdyke, England, that sells about $16 million of film, net and foam components annually for medical applications. It will become part of the SWM's DelStar Technologies operation.
Alpharetta, Ga.-based SWM acquired Middleton, Del.-based DelStar a year ago from a private equity company for $231.5 million. Terms of the latest acquisition were not disclosed.
In announcing the Gilberdyke purchase, Frédéric Villoutreix, SWM's chairman and CEO, said the plan was always to make DelStar — a custom manufacturer of plastic and metal components used in filtration, health care, and specialty industrial markets — the cornerstone for a new strategic growth platform.
The Gilberdyke facility, which specializes in finger bandages, is a good fit for DelStar's existing medical business, but that's not the only benefit, Villoutreix said in a news release.
“The manufacturing capabilities and customer relationships we will acquire through this transaction will elevate our presence and product depth in the attractive health care industry, and accelerate growth of SWM's filtration segment,” he said.
The transaction is scheduled to close in 2014. By purchasing a facility that makes first-aid and wound dressings, DelStar is expanding its geographic presence and product offerings with “highly complementary technologies,” according to company President Mark Abrahams.
The DelStar Technologies' brands include Naltex extruded netting, Delnet apertured films, DelPore meltblown nonwovens, Stratex laminate composites and CoretecTM extruded cores, tubes and machined parts.
DelStar has manufacturing operations at its headquarters and in Austin, Texas; Richland, Pa.; El Cajon, Calif.; and Suzhou, China.
Smith & Nephew, a global medical technology business that had sales of $4.3 billion in 2013, still serves health care professional in the areas of orthopedic reconstruction, advanced wound management, sports medicine and trauma and extremities.