Division of Cook Medical in Parks Township to be acquired by CooperCompanies; no jobs lost

Cook Medical, with three global locations including a facility in Parks Township, announced last week plans to sell their reproductive health devices division to CooperCompanies, headquartered in San Ramon, Calif.

William Cook Australia and Cook Spencer are the other two facilities currently manufacturing reproductive health devices. Cook Medical has locations in more than 135 countries.

Family-owned and headquartered in Bloomington, Ind., Cook Medical has been inventing, manufacturing and delivering medical products for obstetrics and gynecology since 1963.

CooperCompanies is a publicly held global women’s fertility and women’s medical device company, providing products and services related to assisted reproductive therapy (ART) and in vitro fertilization (IVF).

The 40,000-square-foot facility in the Parks Bend Industrial Park, Armstrong County, has 245 employees. Cook officials stressed that all jobs remain and they are currently hiring.

CooperCompanies will pay $875 million, with $675 million paid at closing and $200 million paid in four, $50 million annual installments.

“No jobs are at risk,” said Cook spokeswoman Marsha Lovejoy.

Lovejoy said the deal is expected to close in the next three to 12 months.

Upon closing, Cook will continue to make products for CooperSurgical during a two-year transition period and plans to increase manufacturing capacity to accommodate growth.

Employees will eventually cross-train to learn how to manufacture other Cook Medical products.

Last year, Cook’s Vandergrift facility sought to hire 25 additional employees to meet production demands.

The Parks Township location, formerly known as Cook Vascular, opened in 1981 and specializes in numerous products that include blood flow monitors, in vitro pipettes, pacemaker devices and more.

Cook was one of the first companies to develop medical devices specifically for in-vitro fertilization, including developing the first needle specifically used for IVF treatments.

The proposed transaction will allow Cook Medical to increase their investment in reproductive technologies in support of clinical specialties, said Lovejoy.

In a statement, D.J. Sirota, the Cook Medical senior vice president of the MedSurg specialty, said the agreement reinforces a commitment to offer more solutions to customers and patients around the world.

“Our history with reproductive health has been full of innovations to help patients fulfill their dreams of having a family,” Sirota said. “This agreement represents more than a simple transaction, it’s a commitment to offer a more complete range of solutions to customers and patients around the world.”

In a statement, Cook Medical President Pete Yonkman said the impending closing will not affect any manufacturing jobs.

“We remain committed to the communities where we have facilities and employees, including Spencer, Vandergrift and Brisbane, where these products are manufactured,” Yonkman said. “This agreement will allow us to invest in future growth and new technologies. The rest of the Cook organization will continue as privately held, family-owned companies with no plans to change that status.”

In 2021, Cook Medical reported worldwide sales of $2.2 billion for all of its business products.

The reproductive business portion makes up 7% of Cook’s business.

CooperCompanies operates two divisions, CooperVision and CooperSurgical, and has more than 12,000 employees.