When Lehigh Valley manufacturer Coulbourn Instruments–makers of behavioral research products used in animal testing–was acquired last week by the larger, publicly-traded Harvard Bioscience, area developers were concerned that the sale could lead not only to layoffs but to the move of not one, but two local companies, out of the Lehigh Valley. But as it turns out, some American industrial tales have a happy ending.
According to the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation, the President of Coulbourn Instruments also owns Cobalt Computers, a blade server manufacturer in the same Whitehall facility where Coulbourn will be staying for the foreseeable future. When owner Paul Mazzucco sold Coulbourn, LVEDC feared that they would not be able to extend the incentives Mazzucco received for both Coulbourn and Cobalt. In short, by keeping operations in Whitehall, Harvard Bioscience may have inadvertently kept two companies local, instead of just one.
“Coulbourn wasn’t the only entity we were trying to preserve here,” says LVEDC VP of Economic Development John Kingsley. “We needed to go through a number of machinations to preserve those incentives that were made available when they located in this area to begin with.”
Harvard’s acquisition style here is a strategy the firm has employed. By leaving their acquisition companies in tact, they hold on to the relationships sales people have built with their customers and retain the strength of the acquired company. This time, they may have kept not one but two companies local and saved hundreds of jobs for the Lehigh Valley.
“We have made 21 acquisitions over the last 14 years and this has been a very successful strategy for us,” says Harvard Bioscience President David Green. “It may sound odd because many companies acquire a smaller company, close it down and then move the jobs to their headquarters. We have never done that because this is a scientific instruments industry so the scientists are the ones who buy the products. They really come to know and love their sales people and the products. Consolidation is not what our business is all about. It’s really about building strong franchises.”
Source: David Green, Harvard Biosciences
Writer: John Steele