Nordson Broadens Medtech Capabilities with Avalon Labs Purchase

Nordson Corporation is expanding it medical technology holdings with a recent acquisition. The Westlake, Ohio-based firm recently purchased Avalon Laboratories Holding Corp., located just outside Los Angeles in Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Avalon designs and and manufactures highly specialized catheters and medical tubing products for cardiology, pulmonology and related applications.   

The purchase price was approximately $180 million.

“Avalon is a high performing growth company with best in class products that are highly complementary to Nordson’s existing lines of highly engineered, single-use plastic components for fluid management in medical applications,” said Michael F. Hilton, Nordson president and CEO.  “In line with our strategy of expanding in the growing global medical market, Avalon brings Nordson another stream of high-value, recurring revenue and further reduces our exposure to more cyclical end markets. The company has generated double-digit compound annual growth rates in revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) since 2008 through a combination of innovative products, unique intellectual property, process know-how, strong customer relationships, and scalable low cost manufacturing.  We expect to build on the current strong performance of Avalon by leveraging Nordson’s scale, global footprint and continuous improvement competencies.” 

Founded in 1990, Avalon will operate as part of Nordson’s Advanced Technology Systems segment in the firm’s Healthcare group. Avalon company employs approximately 400 employees at in California and at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration- and ISO 13485-registered manufacturing facility in Guaymas, Mexico.  

The company is differentiated by its proprietary Polymer Solution Casting manufacturing technology, which allows the company to produce seamless one piece tubing of varying wall thicknesses and in complex geometric designs.  The technology also enables Avalon to embed specialized customer-specific features within its tubing, including multiple lumen, kink resistance and advanced imaging capabilities.  

Avalon products are used in life-critical procedures during surgeries where they are inserted directly into a patient’s arteries or veins and most commonly connected to extracorporeal support systems to maintain oxygen circulation and preserve life.  While critical to the success of these procedures, Avalon products typically are a small portion of total procedure costs.  The company serves OEM customers within its current cardiology and pulmonology market segments and has begun to expand its offerings into adjacent endovascular, bariatrics, tracheostomy, endoscopy, non-vascular stent and ophthalmic market segments.  

Nordson engineers, manufactures and markets differentiated products and systems used for precision dispensing of adhesives, coatings, sealants, biomaterials, fluids and other materials,  plastic extrusion and injection molding, electronics testing and inspecting, and surface preparation. The company serves a wide variety of consumer non-durable, durable and technology end markets including packaging, nonwovens, electronics, medical, appliances, energy, transportation, construction, and general product assembly and finishing.  The firm was founded in 1954.

New Sales Representation

In related news, Avalon Laboratories recently signed an agreement with Bunting, Earls & Associates to provide sales representation for its engineering and manufacturing services of catheters and specialized medical tubing in the central United States.

According to Avalon Senior Sales Manager Kelly Hartwell, “The addition of Bunting, Earls & Associates to our network of manufacturer’s representatives will provide better sales coverage in the central U.S. and other strategic regions including: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Randy Earls and his team are highly regarded within the medical device industry and I am looking forward to their ability to quickly and effectively represent our products and services.” 

Bunting, Earls & Associates have been selling to medical device companies for 45 years, representing a portfolio of complimentary components and services to the medical OEM market.