RICHMOND, Australia,
August 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Ansell Limited (ASX:ANN), a global leader in protective
solutions, has today announced its intention to acquire Comasec
SAS, subject to regulatory approval. Comasec, which is
headquartered in Gennevilliers, just north of Paris, France is a global leader in industrial
hand protection solutions and has the capacity to manufacture over
200 million pairs of gloves annually. It has manufacturing plants
in Malaysia and Portugal and employs over 1,200 people. The
acquisition of Comasec will help strengthen Ansell's position in
the rapidly growing but fragmented $7bn industrial hand protection market. It will
also significantly enhance Ansell's presence in a number of
important verticals including mechanical, chemical, food and
utilities.
Ansell's CEO, Magnus Nicolin
commented, "Comasec's business is a strong fit strategically for
our Industrial and Specialty Markets Global Business Unit (GBU).
Comasec's products and solutions significantly enhance Ansell's
presence in the mechanical, chemical, food and utilities verticals
globally. Leveraging the strengths of both organisations will also
provide Ansell with significant economies of scale in the areas of
sales, marketing, supply chain and manufacturing. We are looking
forward to integrating Comasec's products and the well-known brands
Comasec, Marigold Industrial and Marigold into Ansell's hand
protection brand portfolio alongside our industrial brands,
HyFlex®, AlphaTec® and TouchNTuff®. There are strong product
portfolio synergies between both businesses that will be leveraged
in emerging markets, in the US and to further strengthen our market
position in EMEA. We believe that this acquisition is a positive
development for the industrial hand protection market. A combined
Ansell and Comasec will provide an increased choice of solutions
and products for end users, drive innovation and provide
significant opportunities for suppliers."
Pascal Berend, Comasec's owner
and CEO, said, "Since its founding by my father in 1948,
Comasec/Marigold has developed very successfully as a family-owned
group in PPE. With China's entry into the WTO and the
acquisitions in recent years of many independent PPE players by
major multinationals, I am pleased that Comasec is joining forces
with Ansell, the recognized world leader in protective gloves. This
combination will generate many opportunities to accelerate growth
and innovation while continuing to provide quality products and
services to our customers."
We expect the transaction to close in the coming months and over
several years Ansell will integrate both businesses, giving
customers of Ansell and Comasec access to a more diverse product
portfolio and increased choice of products and solutions. Both
companies will also benefit from synergies in the area of Research
and Development and Comasec's superior IT platform will enhance the
speed of response to customer orders across Ansell's Industrial
GBU.
Through the integration programme Ansell will actively focus on
bringing together the best of both organisations for the benefit of
the combined customer base. This will include enhanced structures
for ordering and billing as well as innovative new products and
solutions that combine the expertise of both companies.
Ansell is a world leader in providing superior health and safety
protection solutions that enhance human well being. With operations
in North America, Latin America/Caribbean, EMEA and Asia, Ansell employs more than 10,000 people
worldwide and holds leading positions in the personal protective
equipment and medical gloves markets, as well as in the sexual
health and well being category worldwide. Ansell operates in four
main business segments: Medical Solutions, Industrial Solutions,
Specialty Markets, and Sexual Wellness. Information on Ansell and
its products can be found at http://www.ansell.com.
SOURCE Ansell Limited