IntriCon Corporation, an Arden Hills, MN, company that makes miniature medical and electronics products, has agreed to buy privately held Tibbetts Industries for $4.5 million cash. Focused on four key markets — medical, hearing health, professional audio and communications, and electronics — IntriCon will use the assets from Tibbetts primarily for medical purposes. “Our acquisition of Tibbetts will give IntriCon access to key components that go into ear-worn communication devices used in hearing health, medical and professional audio products such as hearing aids, and ear-worn headsets and microphones,” said CEO Mark Gorder.
Indeed, Camden, ME-based Tibbetts has been making miniature electro-acoustic transducers since 1945, when the company was founded. Today, the 85-person firm has a stable of magnetic telecoils and miniature electro-acoustic transducers, including receivers and microphones. The technologies have a variety of medical applications, including hearing aids, pacemakers, telephones for the hard-of-hearing, automatic insulin-dispensing devices and catheters. About 50% of Tibbetts’s sales come from medical- or hearing-health related products. According to a statement issued by IntriCon, Tibbetts’s management team will stay on board following the acquition.