August 2020 – Orchard Park, NY – Polymer Conversions Inc., of Orchard Park, NY has been acquired by Medbio LLC of Grand Rapids, MI.
Founded in 1979 by Jack and Joan Bertsch, Polymer Conversions, Inc. (“PCI”) is a full-service medical device contract manufacturer that specializes in complex thermoplastic injection molding, LSR molding, mold making, and value-added assembly. PCI operates 31 injection molding machines and employs about 115 people in two locations in the Buffalo, NY area.
In its infancy, PCI made parts for housewares and toys and eventually moved into automotive components. The transition to the medical device industry began in the early 1990s and ramped up in the 2000s with investments in new equipment and adherence to lean manufacturing principals. The company became ISO-13485 certified in 2007 and went through a major building renovation and expansion in 2012 that added a large Class 7 clean room. It launched sister company Silikon Technologies in 2018 to focus on liquid silicone rubber molding. As of 2020, PCI was exclusively serving a customer base focused on medical, healthcare, life science, pharmaceutical, and other critical-to-life™ end-markets.
Medbio LLC (“Medbio”) is an outsourced manufacturer specializing in clean room injection molding and assembly for medical, life science, and biotechnology devices. The acquisition of PCI follows Medbio’s acquisition of AIM Plastics in February 2019. Together, these businesses “create a premier medical device manufacturing platform of scale, capable of supporting the rapid growth of the company’s customers.”
Medbio is a portfolio company of Graham Partners (“Graham”), a leading private investment firm targeting technology-driven advanced manufacturing companies. Graham bought a majority stake in Medbio in July 2018. Graham has extensive ownership experience in both plastics and medical devices.
Graham noted that PCI “is highly complementary to the existing Medbio platform, expanding the company’s geographic presence, while creating cross-selling opportunities across an attractive base of blue-chip medical device customers.”
“Medbio has performed well during the COVID-19 pandemic and we are excited to complete the strategic addition of PCI to continue to grow the Medbio platform,” Joe Heinmiller, Managing Principal at Graham Partners, said in a news release.
Medbio CEO Chris Williams added: “I’m looking forward to partnering with the PCI team to expand Medbio’s manufacturing capabilities, while reaching new customers and end markets.”
MBS Advisors served as investment banker and exclusive financial advisor to both PCI and the Bertsch family. The deal becomes the 109th successful M&A transaction in the plastics industry for MBS. The firm focuses on representing privately held injection molding companies and other engineered component manufacturers.
Certain above excerpts were taken from an article written in Plastics News and a news release issued by Graham Partners.