ConvaTec, the wound dressings manufacturer, has bought Dutch rival Eurotec Beheer for €25m (£21.3m), in the company’s first acquisition since listing on the stock market in October.
Reading-based ConvaTec was valued at more than £4bn when it went public, making it the biggest flotation on the London stock market last year and the largest ever European healthcare listing.
A major reason behind the decision to go public was to raise the company’s profile to drive ambitious growth plans, which include expanding into new markets and launching more products.
EuroTec, which was founded in 1996, manufactures and distributes ostomy systems and accessories on the continent and is the only manufacturer of these products in the Netherlands.
Ostomy care is an area of medicine in which patients have pouches fitted to their abdomens to drain urine or stools, such as a colostomy bag.
Paul Moraviec, chief executive of ConvaTec, said the acquisition would strengthen the company’s ostomy business in France and the Benelux region, two areas he said were “important pillars of the growth strategy for our ostomy care franchise”. The acquisition also includes EuroTec’s production facilities in the Netherlands.
FTSE 100-listed ConvaTec also makes dressings to contain oozing wounds, endotracheal tubes, catheters, surgical suction devices and faecal incontinence equipment.
The company’s products help people with long-term illnesses and the market is growing, driven by increasing life expectancy and greater incidence of chronic health conditions.
ConvaTec was founded in 1978, has 9,000 employees and operates in more than 100 countries. In the UK, it employs 1,000 staff and carries out all of its R&D work in North Wales.
Avista and Nordic Capital bought ConvaTec from US pharmaceuticals giant Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2008 for $4.1bn (£3.18bn) and remain shareholders.
By Julia Bradshaw
Source: The Telegraph
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