DuPont to buy medical component maker Spectrum Plastics

In another move away from traditional chemical manufacturing, DuPont has agreed to buy the medical component firm Spectrum Plastics Group from the private equity firm AEA Investors for $1.75 billion. Spectrum makes medical tubing, catheters, medical balloons, packaging, film, and precision injection molded parts. The company has 2,200 employees; sales have been growing at a double-digit rate and should reach about $500 million this year, DuPont says. It adds that Spectrum will complement its other medical offerings, including Tyvek medical packaging and Liveo silicone materials. DuPont projects that, with the acquisition, the health-care market will account for 10% of its sales. The firm sold its engineering polymers unit, which produces nylon 6,6 and other polymers, to Celanese last year for $11 billion. DuPont expects to conclude the Spectrum purchase in the third quarter.