Kuraray Medical and Noritake Dental Supply are integrating their dental materials businesses to raise their presence in Japan and globally.
The two companies will establish a holding company, Kuraray Noritake Dental Holdings, by April 1 of this year, they said in a press release. Kuraray will hold a 66.7% stake in the company, and Noritake will hold the remainder.
In the second phase of the integration, the holding company and its two units will merge by April 1, 2012.
Kuraray is known for dental materials based on polymer and organic synthesis technologies, while Noritake is a supplier of ceramics for crowns. The decision to join forces was prompted in part by weak growth potential for the domestic dental materials market due to a declining population and other factors, the companies said.
"In Japan, the growth potential of the dental materials business has lessened due to a declining population and efforts to restrain medical costs; therefore, it has become increasingly necessary to invigorate the domestic market while strengthening overseas sales," they explained. "Given the circumstances, Kuraray Medical and Noritake Dental Supply are fully aware that they have a number of issues in common -- namely, a need to establish a stronger presence in both the domestic and overseas markets as well as to promote the replacement of metal."
Kuraray Medical and Noritake Dental Supply posted combined sales of roughly 8.5 billion yen ($103 million U.S.) in fiscal 2010. The goal is to boost the figure to 20 billion yen ($240 million U.S.) in the five to seven years following the integration, according to Sadaaki Matsuyama, Kuraray Medical president.
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