3M to buy patient warming products maker Arizant for $810 million

3M Co, the $23-billion turnover company that is known for making Post-it sticker pads, is making it third acquisition in less than a month by proposing to buy Arizant, a maker of patient warming products to prevent hypothermia during surgery, for $810 million in cash.

Minnesota-based Arizant, which is majority-owned by Court Square Capital, a private equity firm based in New York, is a maker of surgical products that is designed to control patient temperature to prevent hypothermia during surgery.

Its products include Bair Hugger therapy, the Bair Paws patient adjustable warming system, and the Ranger blood and fluid warming systems.

Arizant created the category of forced-air warming, which is the preferred method of warming surgical patients in the US. The global market for patient warming is approximately $1 billion, with the forced-air warming category expected to grow at about 10 per cent annually.

Arizant products help maintain normal body temperature, known as normothermia, in more than 20 million surgical patients annually, which help prevent surgical site infections and other serious complications associated with surgical hypothermia, said 3M in a statement.

Arizant employs 375 people in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Belgium and Japan. Sales for 2010 are expected to be approximately $200 million.