Germany’s Sanner Grows Global Medtech Footprint with Acquisition of NC-based Gilero

Germany‘s Sanner Group, a global healthcare packaging and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) serving medical device OEMs, announced today that it has acquired Gilero LLC, a CDMO headquartered in Durham, NC.

The acquisition of Gilero will position Sanner as a leading provider of end-to-end services across the drug delivery, diagnostics, and medical device sectors, the company said in the news release. As an established medical device and drug delivery system CDMO, Gilero’s capabilities in design and development, assembly, packaging, and contract manufacturing will bolster Sanner’s portfolio, it added. Gilero’s global footprint in the United States, Mexico, and Ireland also will expand Sanner’s geographical reach. In addition to Germany, Sanner operates facilities in France, Hungary, China, India, and Lebanon, NJ.

Expanded US manufacturing base

“Gilero is the perfect fit for the ambitions in our journey to become a leading global provider of customer-specific solutions in medical technology, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and consumer healthcare,” said Sanner CEO Hans-Willem van Vliet. “Following the acquisition of Springboard Pro, which strengthened our offering across the entire medical device development process, Gilero now expands our manufacturing and end-to-end capabilities in the United States. Gilero will also broaden Sanner’s US production facilities to offer onsite production capabilities for our desiccant healthcare packaging solutions,” said van Vliet.

Cambridge, UK–based Springboard, which Sanner acquired in January of this year, provides engineering and scientific services for the development of medical and diagnostic devices and drug-delivery systems, among other technologies.

“With a greater global footprint, notably across the United States and Mexico in key biopharma and medtech hubs, we foster greater collaboration with partners and can mitigate global supply chain issues by providing our services at a local level,” added van Vliet.

Gilero offers full range of injection molding and tooling services

Gilero provides a full range of plastics processing services, including cleanroom injection molding, two-shot molding, and insert and overmolding as well as in-house toolmaking. The company is solely focused on the medical device and drug delivery sectors and follows strict design and process controls. Manual or fully automated production lines are available to suit customer needs.

“We now offer in-house injection molding services across the globe, and we are already embarking on opening an injection molding facility in North Carolina to further vertically integrate our operations and better serve our customers,” said Gilero co-founder and CEO Ted Mosler. “By leveraging Sanner’s longstanding manufacturing expertise and international presence, our customers will benefit from expanded capabilities, including enhanced international manufacturing facilities and global-scale injection molding. Together, we will be a truly global CDMO from design to delivery for our pharmaceutical and medtech customers, helping patients worldwide."

Next-gen CDMO on global scale

Sanner said the acquisition of Gilero is a pivotal part of its strategy in building a next-generation medical device CDMO on a global scale that combines agility and smart thinking with a long tradition in the active primary healthcare packaging sector, including the world’s largest portfolio of desiccant packaging and moisture management solutions.

In the acquisition, Sanner was advised by Alvarez & Marsal as financial advisors and Deloitte as tax structuring advisors, with Norton Rose Fulbright acting as legal advisor.

Alira Health advised Gilero, with Hutchison PLLC acting as legal advisor.