Newly Hatched Life Science Company Navilyst Medical Eyes Expansion
That is — if the state can persuade the company to expand here rather than in another state.
Navilyst and its medical-device operation are based in Marlborough and boasts roughly 800 employees overall. But only 120 are based in Massachusetts. The rest are primarily at a factory operation in Glens Falls, N.Y., making equipment such as tubes and packaging to help administer antibiotics to hospital patients and facilitate chemotherapy treatments.
Darrell LeMar, a spokesman for the state’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, said the state is prepared to persuade Navilyst to pursue future expansion here. He expects the commonwealth’s $1 billion life sciences economic stimulus bill to play an important role in that effort.
“We are going to be reaching out to them,” LeMar said. “With the passage of the $1 billion life sciences bill, we believe the environment for growth within this industry sector is very positive.”
Avista Capital Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, acquired Navilyst from Boston Scientific for $425 million. The acquisition closed in February, but was formally announced earlier this month.
The sale was part of an ongoing reorganization by Boston Scientific in the wake of its $27.2 billion acquisition of Minnesota-based medical device maker Guidant Corp.
For now, company President Dave McClellan isn’t providing much in the way of details about Navilyst’s plans.
“Workforce expansion across the U.S. will be targeted consistent with market conditions,” he said. “We will grow through acquisitions, strategic alliances and organic research and development ... but we are ... still in a transition period.”
While keeping details about the company’s expansion under wraps, McClellan said the priority at the moment is rolling out Navilyst’s long-term strategy as an independent entity.
“We closed the deal on Feb. 14 and we are six months into it,” he said. “And we have really given the company a tremendous amount of focus. We’re poised to launch three brand-new products prior to the end of the year and we have got a very robust portfolio that will lead us to continued growth. And if that is required in Massachusetts or New York to build and grow this company, we will certainly have every intension of growing for the future of the business.”
Navilyst could ultimately become a blockbuster. The company said it generate $180 million in annual revenue in a market thought to be worth $2 billion.
But the state isn’t overly concerned that the bulk of the company’s employment base is in neighboring New York. Many other larger corporations, such as Natick-based Boston Scientific (NYSE: BSX) and Genzyme Corp. (Nasdaq: GENZ) in Cambridge, employ a few thousand people in the Bay State but several thousand more in locations across the country and around the globe.
“What that signals to us is if the company is making a commitment to locate its headquarters here in Marlborough, then we need to understand what its growth needs are,” LeMar said.
McClellan said Navilyst’s long-range plans include keeping its headquarters, at least, in the Bay State, in part because its executive leadership and research-and-development capacity is already here.
But anything after that will depend on a number of factors.
“We are constantly reviewing our portfolio,” McClellan said. “And if opportunities exist in a particular geographic location and make sense with our strategic intent, we will certainly give any consideration to what those needs might be.”