CARPINTERIA, Calif.—Freudenberg Medical, a global developer and manufacturer of specialty components and minimally invasive products for the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, has acquired a majority of Hemoteq A.G., a provider of surface coating technologies and related services for medical devices.
“Hemoteq's coating technology adds a key technology component to our portfolio and represents an important milestone in our long-term strategy to provide a full suite of innovative technology services to our global medical device OEM customers,” Jorg Schneewind, president and CEO of Freudenberg Medical, said in a news release.
Under the transaction, Freudenberg Medical will acquire 75 percent of Hemoteq from shareholders Earlybird Venture Capital and Pi-nova Capital GmbH.
The remaining shares are held by Michael Hoffmann and Roland Horres, founders of Hemoteq.
Along with Chief Financial Officer Thomas Loewen, they will continue to manage the busi-ness.
Max Kley, president of Freudenberg Medical Europe and Specialty Components, will become chairman of the supervisory board.
“We identified Hemoteq as a strategic fit for the long-term development of Freudenberg Medical,” Schneewind said.
“Freudenberg Medical's long-term strategy is to provide our OEM customers with a full suite of innovative technology services for medical device manufacturing, and surface coating is a key technology component.”
This acquisition was not necessarily to move into new markets, he said, but “in order to offer our medical device customers a comprehensive range of services and technologies that help them to improve the efficacy of their devices, and ultimately of patient outcome.”
Wuerselen, Germany-based Hemoteq develops coating solutions for combination products such as drug eluting stents, as well as coatings for catheters and cochlear implants. Freudenberg said Hemoteq is a market leader in drug-coated balloon catheters and holds more than 100 patents in innovative surface technologies.
“The product and service spectrum of Hemoteq perfectly complements the capabilities of Freudenberg Medical,” Kley said in a statement.
Hemoteq provides comprehensive services from the development of the medical device to regulatory approval and serial production. Freudenberg Medical said it develops and manufactures minimally invasive systems as well as components made of silicone, thermoplastics and specialty metals; those surfaces can be modified with active ingredient coatings for optimal efficiency of the medical device.
“With the combination of our material and processing expertise and Hemoteq's leading coating technologies, we can provide our customers a unique portfolio of product solutions,” Hoffmann said.
“Freudenberg Medical offers Hemoteq excellent market access to offer our solutions worldwide. The long-term orientation and financial stability of Freudenberg assures our customers that we can reliably support them over long development processes and throughout their product life cycles.”
Schneewind said Freudenberg Medical plans to continue to seek businesses that are a strategic fit and bring complementary innovative technology.
Freudenberg Medical, formerly Helix Medical and MedVenture Technology, is a global partner for the design, development and manufacture of medical device technologies.
Freudenberg has more than 40,000 employees with more than 1,400 part of the Freudenberg Medical arm. Hemoteq, with a work force of 110, will retain its operation in Wuerselen.