Pride Mobility Products Acquires Silver Star Mobility

Pride® Mobility Products Corp, Exeter, Pa, manufacturer of personal-mobility equipment, including power chairs, travel-mobility products, scooters, and lift chairs, has acquired Silver Star Mobility, manufacturer of scooter and power-chair lifts. The acquisition closed on September 1, 2005.

“Pride’s mission is to help improve peoples’ lives by designing the industry’s most innovative mobility products,” says Scott Meuser, chairman and CEO of Pride. “We are excited that our focus is now going to include power-chair and scooter lifts.”

Through the transition, Pride has worked diligently to ensure a smooth transition for Silver Star customers by implementing product upgrades, packaging changes, stringent testing procedures, and high quality standards to meet the expectations of Pride products.

Silver Star will operate as the Silver Star Lift Division of Pride Mobility Products Corp. The current owner of Silver Star, Dennis Mortimore, will continue at Silver Star and join Pride as the vice president of vehicle lifts.

dj Orthopedics Purchases Encore Medical’s Assets

dj Orthopedics Inc, San Diego, a medical-device company that specializes in rehabilitation and regeneration products for nonoperative orthopedic and spine markets, has purchased the assets of the orthopedics soft goods (OSG) business of Encore Medical Corp, Austin, Tex, for approximately $10 million in cash. dj Orthopedics acquired certain tangible and intangible assets of the OSG business—including inventory, certain fixed assets, and intellectual property—and assumed certain contractual obligations.

“Strategically, this acquisition strengthens our domestic rehabilitation business on a number of fronts,” says Les Cross, president and CEO of dj Orthopedics. “The acquisition adds important mass to our soft-goods franchise with significant manufacturing and distribution synergies. The OSG business also brings us complementary products, such as patient-safety restraints, that we do not presently have in our ProCare portfolio. Finally, the OSG business brings important national supply contracts that we do not presently have, further strengthening our growing presence in national accounts.”

dj Orthopedics estimates that the acquired business will add approximately $10 to $12 million in annualized net revenue. The company also expects the acquisition to contribute $4 to $5 million in revenue.

Magister and Stable Step Plan to Market Powerstep

Magister Corp, Chattanooga, Tenn, manufacturer of rehabilitation and orthopedic products, plans to team up with Stable Step Inc, Cincinnati, manufacturer of prefabricated orthotic products, to market Stable Step’s signature product, Powerstep.

“This is a great opportunity for us,” says David Maley, president of Magister Corp. “We have the distribution channels established into the orthopedic and rehabilitation markets, and Stable Step has a proven product in the Powerstep. The synergy created by our efforts will benefit both companies.”

Powerstep is a podiatric support system that helps relieve heel and arch pain, as well as knee and low back pain, with a four-component design. Used by nearly 1,000 podiatrists nationwide, Powerstep features prescription-level arch supports with a double-layer cushion casing.

Stable Step will continue to oversee the domestic market directly, relying on Magister’s contacts in the orthopedic and rehabilitation industries to expand its sales into those markets. Magister will direct international medical sales efforts.

FLA Orthopedics Acquires American Professional Bracing

FLA Orthopedics, Miramar, Fla, manufacturer of orthopedic supports and bracing products, has acquired American Professional Bracing Inc, Eatontown, NJ, supplier of off-the-shelf spinal-bracing products.

“American Professional Bracing moves FLA into a new market that also opens up fresh opportunities for our HME retail and other customers,” says Rex Niles, CEO of FLA. “Off-the-shelf back braces are taking market share from custom braces because they are more convenient and provide the necessary treatment at a fraction of the cost.”

FLA’s acquisition of American Professional Bracing adds semicustom back braces to the company. American Professional Bracing products complement FLA’s broad range of supports and braces for the wrist, elbow, knee, back, and ankle.

BREG Inc Expands Sales Strategy

Orthofix International NV, the Netherlands, announced that its division, BREG Inc, Vista, Calif, is executing an international sales strategy to comarket its products with Orthofix’s European distributors and expand its international sales efforts to Latin American and Southeast Asian markets.

“BREG is committed to an aggressive global-expansion strategy,” says Charles Federico, group president and CEO of Orthofix. “BREG has been, and continues to be, a very successful company in the United States. These expansion efforts are a big step forward for BREG to establish similar success outside the United States.”