Local managers who have bought out a Roscommon medical supplies plant from its parent company in the United States say they plan to expand output and employment.
Based in Boyle, Adam Spence Europe will now be called ANSAmed after the buyout by five senior managers. ANSAmed's managing director, Mr Rory O'Connor, said the buyout was unusual as it was initiated by the local managers rather than by the parent company deciding it wanted to sell.
"We could see the potential that was there. From the start we had built up our own European markets ourselves and had developed our own research and development department so we had all the elements here," he said. It took some "persuading" of the New Jersey-based parent company and there were also other interested buyers, he added.
Set up in 1992, the company manufactures medical devices and components, particularly precision equipment such as that used in heart surgery. It exports 80 per cent of its products, mainly to Germany.
The medical supplies industry is one of the largest in the north-west, and Mr O'Connor said a big advantage of being in Boyle was that it was close to large companies such as Abbotts in Sligo and Donegal and Hollisters in Ballina.
The company is one of four large employers in Boyle and has a staff of 60. Mr O'Connor said they have been achieving annual growth of 30 per cent. He hopes to be employing 90 people within five years.
He said the buyout was worth "several millions". Some of the money came from Enterprise Equity (IRL) Ltd, the venture capital arm of the International Fund for Ireland. It qualified for this because the company was deemed to help the Border economy.
Mr O'Connor said the fact the company was now owned and controlled by people who lived in the community meant its future was more certain. "We are not going anywhere. We are not going to move to Morocco or southern Asia," he said.