London-based private equity firm Investindustrial announced Nov. 3 that it's rolling up four North American and European medical plastics processors, as part of what it calls the first step in an "ambitious" buildup strategy.
Investindustrial said it has purchased California's Formula Plastics Inc. and the Italian firms Kabo srl, Luc & Bel srl and Modenplast srl to create a roughly $100 million company with operations in injection molding, extrusion, compounding and tool building.
The new entity, Arterex, said it will operate four manufacturing plants and 800 employees in North America, Europe and Africa.
"The combination of Formula Plastics, Kabo, Luc & Bel and Modenplast represents the first step of an ambitious international buildup plan with significant synergies," Arterex said.
It noted in the news release, for example, that Formula Plastics, based in Tecate, Calif., has a plant in the Mexican city of Tecate and has injection molding capabilities that will complement the European factories.
"We are excited to bring to our customers in Europe and North America the benefits of having a reliable global provider of specialized and multicapability manufacturing solutions," said Arterex CEO Jeffrey Goble.
According to Plastics News data, Formula has 600 employees, 72 injection presses, injection molding sales of $43 million and estimated total sales of $60 million. It has Class 8 medical molding and assembly rooms, according to its website.
A 2021 profile of the company in PN said it employs about 80 degreed engineers and focuses on technical molding and assembly, mold design and fabrication, and medical device manufacturing.
Kabo, based in Traversetolo, Italy, makes plastic medical bags in a factory in Egypt. Modenplast, in Ubersetto, compounds medical-grade PVC and makes tubing, while its sister company Luc & Bel manufactures medical products.
Investindustrial is a group of independently managed funds with a total of about 12 billion euros ($11.9 billion) of raised capital.
Investindustrial recently sold French compounder Benvic Group. Its current portfolio includes Bakelite Synthetics, which it bought from Hexion Inc. in 2020.
Besides Goble, Arterex said it will be led by Chairman Charles Stroupe and Chief Financial Officer Paul Jazwin. It said the three have decades of experience in the contract medical device industry.