Sterigenics Gets Additional Private-Equity Investors

Sterigenics International LLC, a provider of contract sterilization, gamma technologies and medical isotopes, reports that Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, will recapitalize Sterigenics in partnership with Chicago, Ill.-based private equity firm GTCR, which purchased Sterigenics in 2011. 

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

“With this new partnership between Warburg Pincus and GTCR, Sterigenics is extraordinarily well positioned to accelerate growth, invest additional capital to serve our customers and expand our global footprint,” said Michael Mulhern, CEO of Deerfield, Ill.-based Sterigenics International.

In 2014, Sterigenics acquired Nordion, a provider of Cobalt-60, an isotope that produces gamma radiation and is a critical component of the gamma sterilization process. The acquisition of Nordion expanded the Sterigenics product portfolio, service offering, and global footprint.  Additional acquisitions in 2014 included the Florida-based gamma irradiation operator, FTSI, as well as Gammarad, an Italian gamma irradiation sterilization company, which now serves as the company’s second gamma sterilization facility in Western Europe.

In February, Nordion partnered with General Atomics and the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center to establish a new, long-term supply of medical isotopes that, according to the company, will serve millions of patients around the world.

“The future for Sterigenics International and its employees has never been brighter with the commitment of Warburg Pincus and GTCR,” said Mulhern.  “We are excited to continue our mission to improve global public health, ultimately benefiting millions of people around the world who count on our services.”

Jim Neary, managing director and member of the executive management group of New York, N.Y.-based Warburg Pincus, commented: “Michael, the Sterigenics management team and GTCR have established a world-class sterilization company that serves a large and growing market.  Sterigenics fills a mission-critical need for its customers and is well positioned to benefit from the increasing demand for outsourced sterilization services.”

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2015. 

Sterigenics International LLC has 43 facilities in 12 countries