Sterigenics Buys Brazilian Sterilization Specialist

Sterigenics International LLC, a provider of contract sterilization, gamma technologies and medical isotopes, acquired Sao Paulo, Brazil-based Companhia Brasileira de Esterilização (CBE), the largest specialist in sterilization and microbial load reduction in Latin America.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founded in 1978, CBE was the first company to employ gamma sterilization methods in Brazil, and—according to Sterigenics—offers solutions through the largest particle accelerator (e-beam) in Latin America.

“This strategic geographic acquisition demonstrates our commitment to expanding our global footprint in order to meet our customers’ growing needs,” said Michael Mulhern, CEO of Sterigenics International. “Going forward, we will continue investing in the future of Sterigenics and building upon our leadership position.”

“We are very excited to add such a high-quality company as CBE to Sterigenics,” said Philip Macnabb, president of Sterigenics. “CBE brings three facilities into our network with a total processing capacity of 12 million cubic feet. With the addition of CBE we now offer six locations for processing in Latin America, including sites in Costa Rica and Mexico.”

In 2014, a Sterigenics affiliate acquired Nordion, a provider of cobalt-60, an isotope that produces gamma radiation and is a critical component of the gamma sterilization process, creating the only vertically integrated sterilization services company in the world.

Additional acquisitions in 2014 included Mulberry, Fla.-based gamma irradiation operator FTSI, as well as Gammarad, Italy’s leading gamma irradiation sterilization company, which now serves as the company’s second gamma sterilization facility in Western Europe.

Sterigenics International has 47 facilities in 13 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Sterigenics provides contract sterilization and ionization services for the medical device, pharmaceutical, food safety, and high-performance materials industries. The company is owned by private-equity firms Warburg Pincus and GTCR.