Rising surgical volumes and infection control concerns are driving demand for medical textiles, specialized materials meeting sterility standards for hospital gowns, wound dressings, bandages and surgical implants. Private equity firms including Montagu, Kohlberg, Sterling and Arlington are actively pursuing deals in the medical textiles sector and adjacent services like specialized laundering.

Montagu and Kohlberg acquired Teleflex Medical OEM in a $1.5 billion carve-out from Teleflex. Based in Plymouth, Minnesota, Teleflex Medical OEM develops medical textiles like fibers and sutures for surgical and orthopedic applications. Separately, Novanta acquired Riverpoint Medical for $1.45 billion from Arlington Capital Partners. Riverpoint, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, specializes in surgical threads and consumables for minimally invasive procedures.

Michelin completed its acquisition of Arlington-backed Tex Tech Industries, which manufactures textile products and specialized coated fabrics for medical devices in Kernersville, North Carolina. These transactions reflect growing interest in medical textile capabilities that offer scarce, resilient manufacturing capacity for healthcare OEMs.