Acquirer to Adopt SaniSure Name

While the coronavirus pandemic surged, Richard Shor was busy selling his company.Shor, president of Sani-Tech West Inc. and its subsidiaries SaniSure and SureTech in Camarillo, said that 98 percent of the transaction with CTS Bioprocessing was done virtually via Zoom or Microsoft Meetings. The deal closed at the end of July; financial terms were not disclosed.“I think I aged two years in the process,” Shor said with a laugh. “But we got it done.”CTS Bioprocessing is owned by 3i Group plc, a British private equity company that invests in the financial services, consumer, industrial, energy and health care industries.Sani-Tech West is a manufacturer, distributor and integrator of single-use bioprocessing systems and components, including customized bottle assemblies, aseptic transfer systems, caps, flasks, tubes and clamps. Clients use the products in biotech, pharmaceutical and life sciences applications. Shor described SaniSure as the manufacturing arm of the company and SureTech handles injection molding operations.  Shor remains with the company which he started in 1991 after stints working in his family’s wholesale jewelry business and later as a salesman of plumbing supplies to the food and beverage industries, which Sani-Tech still serves.In fact, 3i Group is changing the CTS Bioprocessing name to SaniSure Group as a reflection of the company’s reputation in the medical process industry.“It’s got good global recognition,” Shor said of SaniSure. “We are going to be rolling that (the name change) out shortly.” The road to the sale of Sani-Tech began about a year ago, after Shor hired an investment banking firm because he realized he needed outside financing to continue growing the company. Until then, Shor had always relied on lines of credit and the company’s accounts receivables to fund growth. “I thought about it and said rather than me putting $12 million to $15 million into the next phase, maybe there is somebody who wants to take this trip with me,” Shor said. So he hired the investment banking firm, which began the process. A third-party accounting firm was brought on to do an independent audit of Sant-Tech’s books to make sure the numbers added up. 3i had been among the companies that had contacted Shor in the past about a deal. He was contacted once again by the British firm’s head of business development, who was in California to visit his parents and to attend the Medical Design & Manufacturing West Conference at the Anaheim Convention Center in February.The 3i rep told Shor that he needed to meet him because of the companies that the firm had recently acquired, including Cellon S.A., a Luxembourg company that provides products and services to the vaccine production and bioprocessing industries. That was a company that Shor was familiar with. “We are a big believer in their product, but we couldn’t get any supply; they were maxed out on their capacity,” he said. So Shor called Richard Fry, the former owner of Cellon who remains as the chief executive to ask him about 3i. After hearing positive things, Shor decided to meet with the 3i rep. What was supposed to be an hour meeting turned into five hours at a restaurant in Anaheim. It was after that meeting that he decided that 3i would be a good fit for Sani-Tech, Shor said. “Ultimately, they stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the ballpark with the offer they made,” he added. “We decided that was the way we wanted to go.” What this deal means for Sani-Tech is a strong footprint across North America and Europe, enabling it to serve customers on a more global basis. The business can offer its customers enhanced supply chain assurance for a combined portfolio of products, all supported by a network of global distribution partners. In Camarillo, Sani-Tech recently leased another 19,000 square feet of warehouse space. That will help with the large shipment of culture bottles coming from Cellon. Sani-Tech will launch the brand in the U.S., Shor said.  “I am really excited about that,” he added. “Imagine everybody lining up at your ice cream truck and you have no ice cream to sell. Now I have lots of ice cream to sell, so I am pretty excited.”