Business News
DuPont Acquires Cardinal Health Industrial Apparel Business
Wednesday 02. April 2008 - Focus on Protecting People, Critical Processes and Products for Biotech, Electronics
To support its growth strategy in Safety & Protection products, DuPont (NYSE:DD) today announced its intent to purchase the Industrial Apparel line of Cardinal Health’s Scientific and Production Products business, which manufactures and markets a variety of products used in cleanrooms and other controlled environments.
Terms were not disclosed.
The agreement includes the transfer of the existing inventory and intellectual property related to industrial garments including the Micro- Clean(R) brand. It will allow DuPont, already a leading manufacturer of fabrics and garments for industrial safety and emergency response, to provide a broader offering for the marketplace. Cardinal Health will retain its hospital apparel product line along with its industrial gloves offering.
“This acquisition builds on DuPont’s long-standing role as a premier provider of innovative technologies that help protect people and critical processes,” said Mark P. Vergnano, group vice president – DuPont Safety & Protection. “It also enhances DuPont’s industrial garment portfolio, allowing us to grow our offering to customers with an expanded range of consumables for controlled environments, including life sciences and electronics manufacturing sites.”
The acquisition is part of the DuPont Safety & Protection strategy to expand the company’s presence in consumables in the controlled environment market space. It also complements the company’s current offering, making DuPont a leading source for a variety of products, including disposable garments and accessories, cleanroom wipes and disinfectants.
According to industry estimates, the life sciences consumables segment totals approximately $1 billion globally, including garments, wipes and disinfectants, among others. The estimated demand for disposable and reusable garments alone is $280 million globally.
Other products DuPont offers that help protect critical products and processes as well as enhance worker safety include:
— DuPont(TM) Tyvek(R), Tyvek(R) IsoClean(TM), Suprel(R) LS and
ProClean(R) apparel;
— DuPont(TM) RelyOn(TM) disinfectants to reduce the exposure to, and
spread of, viruses, and;
— DuPont(TM) Sontara(R) wipes to help reduce contaminants in
manufacturing and other areas where they can destroy product efficacy
or safety.
Cleanrooms and other controlled environments are used to manufacture products that are highly sensitive to contamination, so they require special controls that minimize the release of particles, microorganisms or chemicals. Contaminants may come from a variety of sources, including human activities, materials or even from the air flow into the environment.
This transaction will enable DuPont to offer a broad range of cleanroom garments to help minimize human impact, as well as wipes and disinfectants to aid in controlling surface contamination in cleanrooms and controlled environments.
DuPont is committed to protecting people. From first responders to industrial workers, DuPont provides protective apparel solutions to meet safety needs. The DuPont Safety & Protection segment includes DuPont Advanced Fiber Systems, DuPont Nonwovens, DuPont Building Innovations, DuPont Chemical Solutions Enterprise and DuPont Safety Resources. In 2007, the segment’s revenues totaled $5.6 billion.