Beringea To Exit UP's Pioneer Surgical Technology In Buyout
FARMINGTON HILLS -- The private equity firm Beringea LLC announced that Florida-based RTI Biologics Inc. (Nasdaq: RTIX), a provider of orthopedic and other biologic implants, has announced its intent to acquire Marquette-based Pioneer Surgical Technology, a Beringea portfolio company that manufactures and distributes metal and synthetic products in the orthopedics, biologics, spine, trauma and cardiothoracic markets.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, RTI will pay $130 million in cash to acquire all the outstanding stock of Pioneer.
Beringea first invested in Pioneer in 2008; the exit is the third in three months for the private equity group, which includes Beringea's London, UK affiliate, Beringea LLP.
"We believe the combination of Pioneer and RTI will be a catalyst for continued growth," said Daniel Webber, Pioneer's president and chief executive officer. "The combined company will have a broad portfolio of complementary surgical implants benefiting patients, surgeons and hospitals, as well as advancing the positive momentum we have built at Pioneer. Additionally, RTI's culture of innovation is a great fit with that of our own employees."
RTI's expects the transaction will enhance RTI's existing core competency in biologics processing with the addition of Pioneer's core competency in metals and synthetics.
"The combination of RTI and Pioneer is an exciting opportunity for both companies and their employees," said Brian K. Hutchison, RTI president and chief executive officer. "This acquisition is strongly aligned with RTI's long term strategic plan, accelerating new growth opportunities and gross margin expansion. Pioneer has built a strong distribution network for their implants, which will be beneficial when we launch our map3 cellular allogeneic bone graft later this year. This acquisition will bring immediate scale, allowing us to reach our strategic goals and take advantage of growth opportunities more quickly than either company could do independently."
RTI prepares human donated tissue and animal tissue for transplantation through extensive testing and screening, precision shaping and using proprietary, validated processes. These allograft and xenograft implants are used in orthopedic, dental and other specialty surgeries.
RTI's innovations continuously raise the bar of science and safety for biologics – from being the first company to offer precision-tooled bone implants and assembled technology to maximize each gift of donation, to inventing validated sterilization processes that include viral inactivation steps. These processes — BioCleanse, Tutoplast and Cancelle SP DBM — have a combined record of more than five million implants sterilized with zero incidence of implant-associated infection. These processes have been validated by tissue type to inactivate or remove viruses, bacteria, fungi and spores from the tissue while maintaining biocompatibility and functionality.
RTI is based in Alachua, Fla., with international locations in Germany and France. The company is accredited by the American Association of Tissue Banks in the United States and is a member of AdvaMed.
Pioneer Surgical was founded in Marquette in 1992. Since that time, Pioneer Surgical has developed successful products in the spine, biologics, orthopedics, and cardiothoracic markets. Pioneer has several facilities throughout the U.S. and in Houten, The Netherlands. More at www.pioneersurgical.com.
