Sybron acquires Oraltronics

Sybron Dental Specialties, manufacturers of some of the best-known brands of dental products worldwide including Kerr, Ormco and SybronEndo, announced it had purchased Oraltronics Dental Implant Technology GmbH on June 8. This acquisition follows the announcement on August 23, 2004 of the acquisition of implant manufacturer Innova Life Sciences Corporation (ADP Sep/Oct 2004).

Oraltronics was a privately held company headquartered in Bremen, Germany engaged in the manufacture and sale of dental implants. Established in 1979, by Professor Hans L. Grafelmann, Oraltronics generated annual revenues of approximately US$10 million in 2004. The purchase of the company was made using Sybron Dental Specialties' existing cash via its Ormoco subsidiary.

"Oraltronics represents an ideal addition to our subsidiary Innova Lifesciences, which we acquired last October as a means of entering the rapidly growing dental implant market," said Floyd W. Pickrell, Jr., Chief Executive Officer of Sybron Dental Specialties. "Oraltronics not only increases our scale in this exciting segment of dentistry, it also provides a strong presence in several key countries in Europe that will serve as an excellent platform to promote the sale of Innova's press fit implant design in Europe. We also believe the addition of Oraltronics' patented implant design will have a positive impact on Innova's sales in the United States and Canada."

Oraltronics will be managed by the Company's Innova subsidiary, which continues to be led by Innova's founder and President, Mr Michael Kehoe.

"We are very pleased to add the highly acclaimed Oraltronics implants to the Innova product line," said Mr Kehoe. "Their threaded implant design offers an excellent complement to our Endopore product and we look forward to the opportunities that this acquisition offers to drive the worldwide sales of both the Oraltronics and Innova brands via a strengthened sales and distribution network."