Ansell to add Marigolds to personal protection portfolio

ERJ staff report (DS)

Melbourne, Australia -- Ansel Ltd is to buy France-based Comasec SAS. Comasec makes gloves for the personal protection market. It is a privately owned French group with sales of around EUR100m (approximately A$120m), manufacturing operations in Portugal and Malaysia and over 1200 employees globally.

Comasec specialises in gloves for chemical protection, food handling, cut protection, mechanical protection, dry box and thermal protection. Major brands are Comasec, Marigold, and Marigold Industrial.

Magnus Nicolin, Ansell's CEO commented “From a strategic perspective, Comasec ticks all the boxes. Comasec's gloves complement and extend Ansell's Industrial and Specialty Markets product ranges, its brands and people are well regarded in Europe especially and its culture will fit well with Ansell's. Clearly there are opportunities for cost synergies, but this acquisition, more than anything, helps us to strengthen our Industrial and Specialty Markets businesses. We expect solid growth synergies as our combined teams and improved offerings help us to better serve our customers”.

Closing is expected by October, subject to regulatory approvals. The (cash-free, debtfree)

purchase price is EUR101.5m (A$118m) and is being funded out of Ansell's

available cash and credit facilities. After expensing transaction and integration costs, it

is expected to be slightly EPS accretive in F'13 and strongly accretive thereafter.

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Press release from Ansell