Medical device maker ConvaTec will shutter its Skillman, NJ, office and lay off 118 employees from its sales, marketing and human resources division, The Star-Ledger reports.
The Luxembourg-based company will close its two-building campus at the end of April and move its operations to a smaller office in New Jersey, said spokesman Robert McKee in a statement. The location of the new facility has not yet been determined, but ConvaTec will retain 100 employees from its Skillman office.
McKee said the closure and layoffs were related to "the consolidation of our office space" and were not part of a restructuring plan, The Star-Ledger reports. However, the company's presence in New Jersey has continued to shrink in recent years, with all of its employees operating out of one facility.
The downsizing does not bode well for the devicemaker, which has experienced its share of ups and downs in recent years: Originally Bristol-Myers Squibb's ($BMY) wound-care unit, ConvaTec was sold to Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners in 2008 for $4.1 billion. The company set its sights on expansion and began to carve a niche for itself in the areas of ostomy care, wound therapeutics, infusion devices, continence and critical care.
After a thwarted attempt to acquire wound-care specialist Kinetic Concepts in 2011--and in an effort to diversify its portfolio--ConvaTec dropped $321 million on 180 Medical, an Oklahoma City devicemaker specializing in urologic and disposable medical supplies. The company also settled a patent dispute with rival Smith & Nephew ($SNN) over the manufacturing process for its silver wound dressing in 2012. It seemed as if ConvaTec was enjoying a period of relative calm, until it was slapped with an FDA warning letter for the manufacturing of some of its incontinence devices in June.
ConvaTec retains offices in Greensboro, NC, and Oklahoma City and boasts 8,000 employees in 90 countries.
- read the Star-Ledger story