February 9, 2009 – Boston, MA – Covington Associates announced that Putnam Plastics Company, LLC, a leader in complex polymer tubing for medical applications, was acquired from SAES Getters S.p.A. by Polymedex Discovery Group.

Polymedex Discovery Group, headquartered in Putnam, CT, is a privately held service provider to the medical industry offering specialty polymers, custom polymer blends, custom extrusions, and contract material blending for drug delivery. The group consists of Foster Corporation, Foster West Corporation and PPC LLC Acquisition Corporation.
Polymedex Discovery Group co-CEOs Larry Acquarulo and Jim Dandeneau said, “This acquisition was a win-win for us and Getters. Putnam Plastics has an outstanding reputation as an innovator in polymer tubing for critical medical applications, often sourcing the highly customized polymer blends from Foster. Combining these two great companies allows us to provide more depth and breadth in polymer capabilities and support our customer’s efforts to provide better solutions for advanced patient care. Also, it allows Getters to continue their commitment to shape memory alloys for medical and industrial applications.”

“The combination of Putnam Plastics Company with Polymedex Discovery Group creates a sizable business with a unique range of capabilities with polymers for medical device companies,” said Ben Dunn, Managing Director at Covington Associates. “This acquisition demonstrates an ongoing trend of niche players in the Medical Product Outsourcing market adding capabilities to take advantage of growth opportunities. This is the sixth recent transaction in which Covington Associates has acted as advisor to a Medical Product Outsourcing company.”

About Putnam Plastics Company
Putnam Plastics Company has been a leader in complex polymer tubing for medical applications for over 20 years, focusing on innovation and comprehensive manufacturing required for minimally invasive surgical instruments. Putnam Plastics Company has become a global supplier of coextruded, multi-lumen, braided and extremely thin-wall, multi-layer tubing. Memry Corporation acquired Putnam Plastics Company in 2004, and in 2008 Memry Corporation became a wholly-owned US subsidiary of SAES Getters International Luxembourg S.A., a world leader in a variety of scientific and industrial applications where stringent vacuum conditions or ultra-pure gases are required. SAES Getters S.p.A., the ultimate parent company, is a public company headquartered in Milan, Italy and listed on the Italian Stock Exchange Market.

For more information about Putnam Plastics Company please visit www.putnamplastics.com.

About Covington Associates
Covington Associates is a specialty investment banking firm founded in 1991 serving business service, consumer, industrial, healthcare, and technology companies throughout the country. Focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising, debt and equity restructuring, and strategic advisory assignments for middle market companies, Covington Associates has completed transactions ranging in value from $10 million to over $1 billion for both private and publicly traded companies. This is the sixth in a series of recent transactions on which Covington Associates has advised in the outsourced manufacturing space.

To learn more about Covington Associates, visit www.covingtonassociates.com.