Gelman Selling Italian Subsidiary

Gelman selling Italian subsidiary

THURSDAY OCT 30, 1980 

Gelman Sciences Inc. will sell its Italian subsidiary to a Virginia firm for $14.4 million, the Ann Arbor company announced Wednesday.

The foreign subsidiary, Gelman S.p.A., will be purchased by Flow General Inc. of McLean, Va. The agreement is subject to the approval of Flow General’s board of directors. It calls for payment in cash, preferred convertible stock, and notes.

COMPANY President Charles Gelman could not be reached for comment Wednesday on the transaction. Trading in the firm’s stock on the American Stock Exchange was suspended for two hours Wednesday afternoon before announcement of the agreement was made.

The Gelman Italian operation produced revenues of $17.1 million and net income of $1.9 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1980. A Gelman Sciences spokesman said that less than 25 percent of Gelman S.p.A.’s business is related to the parent firm’s principal business area of membrane separation technologies.

THE BALANCE of the Italian firm’s business, the spokesman said, relates closely to the existing business of Flow General’s biomedical subsidiary, including a line of manufactured laminar flow air purification equipment. That equipment had been distributed by Flow General.

The spokesman said Flow General would continue with Gelman S.p.A.’s existing product line and would retain key personnel of the Italian firm, including general manager Angelo Fracassi.

Gelman Sciences develops and manufactures microfiltration products and systems and biomedical apparatus for the health care, laboratory, and process industries.