Synergy Health buys Leoni Studer Hard of Switzerland

Synergy Health, a global provider of sterilisation services to the medical device market and healthcare sector, has bought Leoni Studer Hard from the Swiss cable and cable systems provider Leoni Group for €47.6m (£39.7m).

Leoni Suder Hard operates a gamma and X-ray facility in Däniken, Switzerland, providing irradiation sterilisation services to the medical device, pharmaceutical and packaging industries. All of the company’s 35 staff will also be taken over by Synergy Health.

To 31 December 2011, Leoni Studer Hard had revenues of CHF10.4m (£7.2m), a pre-tax profit of CHF3.7m (£2.6m) and gross assets of CHF35.7m (£24.6m).

Synergy Health said the acquisition would provide it with access to the Swiss sterilisation market and expand its geographic presence in Europe. Synergy already has facilities in Allershausen and Radeberg in Germany, and in Marseille and Marcoule (scheduled to open in October 2012) in France.

Synergy will also gain access to X-ray technology and specifically the intellectual property required to exploit the benefits of this new application in sterilisation and polymer modification.

Leoni Suder Hard’s X-ray technology also offers significant potential to expand Synergy Health’s irradiation sterilisation services in territories where gamma irradiation is limited by licensing concerns or where it offers a more cost-effective solution.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Synergy Health’s chief executive Richard Steeves, said: ‘This acquisition further strengthens our position in Europe giving us access to the well developed, high value added medical device sterilisation and pharmaceutical market in Switzerland.

‘Furthermore, we will have access to the intellectual property required to exploit the benefits of X-ray technology and particularly polymer modification, enabling us to expand the service offering to our healthcare customers.’