Lakeland Industries, Inc., manufacturer of protective apparel, has agreed to acquire Brazilian protective apparel supplier Qualytextil S.A. Qualytextil, based in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, was founded in 1999 and serves the Brazil Protective Clothing market in the following areas: firemen’s turnout gear, conductive and electric arc garments, chemical protective garments, occupational, multilayer and waterproof operational garments, aluminized and molten metal lines of protective clothing.
 
The purchase price is USD$12.5 million. Qualytextil sales for 2007 were US$9.8 million.
 
Qualytextil is in the northeastern part of the country, where the State provides tax incentives, labor rates are favorable and is conveniently located to transport garments economically throughout the country.
 
Christopher Ryan, CEO of Lakeland, said: The Qualytextil acquisition in Brazil would allow Lakeland to expand worldwide in one of the 10 most important emerging economies. Brazil is a new market which is rapidly increasing its GDP by about 5% per year. Qualytextil has been operating in the market for 7 years, and can provide Lakeland with an in-house sales force of 20 employees and 28 outside sales representatives to cover the entire country, selling directly to the end user.
 
“Qualytextil is selling directly to the major state-owned companies and agencies and the main oil and chemical companies in Brazil. By selling direct, we can get better margins, and lead times will be shortened because we will first approach the companies that are buying direct, and be able to run through their testing trials faster than if an uneducated distributor is doing it. Qualytextil also has a contract with Petrobras, a large Brazilian petroleum company to supply fire-retardant overalls through January 2010 and has a store located inside the Petrobras facility.”
 
Lakeland Industries, Inc. manufactures and sells safety garments and accessories for the industrial protective clothing market. The Company’s products are sold by a direct sales force and through independent sales representatives to a network of over 800 safety and mill supply distributors.
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