NEW YORK, USA/LEIPZIG, Germany: In one of the largest industry mergers this year, the Canadian-based manufacturer of infection-control products SciCan has announced its amalgamation with the German–French conglomerate SycoTec, MICRO-MEGA. With a combined workforce of 800 staff and offices in Canada, France, Switzerland and Germany, the new company will form one of the ten largest dental groups worldwide. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Company officials said that the merger is not a buy-out and that all three companies will remain independent under one umbrella. Merger-related downsizing is not intended, but SciCan’s German office in Augsburg will be closed and its 25 employees relocated to the future company headquarters in Leutkirch im Allgäu in Germany.

SycoTec, which specialises in dental drives and motors, bought the French manufacturer of root-canal instruments MICRO-MEGA in October last year. The former subsidiary of KaVo has been under pressure lately, owing to a decline in demand in local and international dental markets. According to an article in the newspaper Schwäbische Zeitung, orders in early 2009 decreased by 40 per cent, forcing the company to place almost two-thirds of its employees on short-time.

SycoTec CEO Dr Martin Rickert confirmed that the merger would not only help to prevent lay-offs, but also promote further growth. The latest merger with SciCan is intended to complement the current offering of surgical and endodontic instruments with a full range of infection-control products. “We now can offer dentists and doctors a ‘one-stop shop’, from instruments to motors to the entire reprocessing system,” he said.

Both companies intend to make use of each other’s existing distribution networks in North America and Europe and strengthen their market presence in Asia.

Dr Rickert, who will lead the new company with SciCan’s current Chairman Arthur Zwingenberger, added that most of the positions within the organisation will be filled with existing personnel to avoid unnecessary costs. Although the name for the new organisation is still under discussion, the merger is expected to become legally effective within the next few months, he said.