ChargePoint Technology, a Liverpool, UK-based manufacturer of precision containment valves, has bought the assets of Forac, a manufacturer of custom valves, pneumatic actuators and control equipment for the process industry, located in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.
No financial details have been disclosed.
The deal gives ChargePoint access to a compact but powerful pneumatic actuator. It is used to open and close the isolation valves and features in production processes in the pharma, food and fuel industries.
Forac, whose customers include Honeywell, Bosch and GEA Group, will relocate its plant and stock from Shoreham-by-Sea to ChargePoint’s manufacturing plant in Speke, Merseyside.
Forac’s Founder and Managing Director, Adam Bunyard, has joined ChargePoint as part of the transaction.
The deal is strategically important for our business and will keep us on track for our ambitious growth targets
Chris Eccles, Managing Director of ChargePoint Technology, said: 'The Forac deal is strategically important for our business and will keep us on track for our ambitious growth targets in global markets. Forac’s actuators are a key component in our containment valves and we know well the quality of the product. It’s only a small component – in terms of what we produce – but it’s best-in-class.'
ChargePoint’s containment valves enable the safe and sterile handling of any powders used in the manufacturing process – for example when making drugs in tablet form. The valves allow for a safe means of transferring powders from one vessel to another during production. By minimising dust emissions, they are specified to prevent cross-contamination and protect operators from exposure to potent substances.
Originally developed in 1996 with GlaxoSmithKline, ChargePoint valves are now used by most major pharmaceutical manufacturers globally and increasingly in other industries such as chemical, bio-pharmaceutical, food manufacture and consumer goods. Customers include GSK, Pfizer, Henkel, DuPont, INEOS, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly and Sanofi Aventis. The company has offices in New Jersey, US and Hong Kong.
Eccles added: 'We are on course to push our turnover beyond the £10m mark and to have a corresponding increase in the size of our team. It’s not going to happen overnight but the Forac deal and other plans we have in progress are steps along the road.'
