THE LAKE Region factory on the outskirts of New Ross will retain its name once a new take-over merger is completed later this year.
It was announced last week that Accellent Inc., a leading provider of fully integrated outsourced manufacturing and engineering services to the medical device industry, is to take over Lake Region Medical.
The New Ross plant employees around 800 people and is widely regarded as the lifeblood of the town.
When news first emerged that a take-over was imminent there was fear for the jobs in New Ross – especially in view of the shock closure of Irish Driver Harris which resulted in the loss of almost 50 jobs.
However, it appears there will be no imminent threat to employees in Lake Region as the Chief Administrative Officer and owner of Lake Region Medical, Katherine Roehl, pointed out: “Culturally, the values of the two companies are strongly aligned. We believe this is a win-win for everyone, the Fleischhacker family, the Accellent and Lake Region Medical employees, and most importantly our customers and the patients that they serve.”
Accellent said the acquisition of Lake Region Medical supports its intention to expand its cardio and vascular business segment.
“Over the last several years we have been positioning Accellent for growth,” said Don Spence, Chairman and CEO of Accellent.
“Lake Region Medical is an excellent company with a strong quality reputation, product development capability involving clinical thought leaders and a deep medical device manufacturing history,” he added
“Combining our companies will create a leading interventional vascular business with more scale, a broader product offering, and deeper customer relationships.”
It’s expected that Mr. Spence will spearhead the new merger.
Jeremy Friedman, President and COO, Cardio & Vascular business for Accellent, echoed Mr. Spence’s comments and said the acquisition of Lake Region Medical will be an instrumental step in the company’s overall market strategy: “Lake Region Medical is a leading designer and producer of guide wires and other wire-based products used for therapy delivery in minimally invasive procedures. This makes for a perfect fit with our product strategy and will allow us to offer our customers a strong portfolio of both guide wire and catheter products.”
Founded in 1947 by Joe Fleischhacker Sr., Lake Region Medical has a rich history of innovation which began with Mr. Fleischhacker’s development of the process to manufacture pacing coils used with the first implantable pacemakers.
Since then the company has been owned and operated by the Fleischhacker family.
The organisation’s current CEO and owner, Joe Fleischhacker Jr. said Accellent is an ideal company to continue exhibiting the “values and strong focus on patient care”.
“On behalf of Kate, Mark and the rest of the Fleischhacker family we all look forward to the continued growth and success of Lake Region Medical,” he added.
Mark Fleischhacker, COO and owner of Lake Region Medical, also commented on the take-over and said it will transform the level of service already in place by his company: “Combining Lake Region’s strength in guide wires with Accellent’s strength in catheters will create a supplier that can offer interventional delivery [and] access and retrieval systems to complement our customers’ core therapeutic devices.”
Significantly, as part of the transaction all of Lake Region Medical’s highly-experienced employees and state-of-the-art facilities in Chaska, Minnesota, New Ross, Galway, and Shanghai, China will become part of the combined enterprise.
The merged business will be called Lake Region Medical and the company will continue to use the Accellent brand in marketing the Advanced Surgical business.
The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014.
