WESTPORT, Conn., June 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Zavation Medical Products, LLC (“Zavation”), an innovative designer and manufacturer of spinal implant, interventional spine and biologics products and a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital (“Gemspring”), today announced that it has acquired CoreLink, LLC (“CoreLink”), a leading, vertically-integrated provider of spinal implant and instrumentation systems, from The Stephens Group, LLC. The transaction combines two market-leading businesses that share a common foundation of engineering unique spinal solutions, providing unparalleled service and enhancing the quality of life for patients around the world. Zavation and CoreLink will continue to operate under their respective brands and the combined business will be led by Zavation CEO Jeffrey Johnson, while Jay Bartling, CEO of CoreLink, will become Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Stephens Group will maintain a minority stake in the combined entity. Financial terms were not disclosed.
For over two decades, CoreLink has solidified itself as a leading provider of novel devices and instrumentation for spinal surgery and more recently has established a differentiated product portfolio supporting lateral spine procedures. CoreLink has uniquely leveraged in-house additive manufacturing techniques to launch its proprietary Mimetic Metal® technology which drives improved patient outcomes. At the same time, CoreLink has invested significantly in medical education including development of a state-of-the-art Bioskills facility in St. Louis, Missouri, to meet evolving surgical needs.
The combination of Zavation and CoreLink brings together two highly complementary product portfolios across spine and interventional pain management, geographic footprints and customer bases spanning in-patient and outpatient delivery of care. By joining forces, the businesses have established a high-growth platform of scale for spinal solutions led by a world-class management team and well-positioned to unlock additional opportunities for expansion. The increased scale allows the combined company to continue investing in innovative technologies and offers surgeon and distributor partners more rapid product development and enhanced customer service. 
Mr. Johnson commented, “The combination of Zavation and CoreLink brings together two industry-leading businesses with shared values and customer-centric cultures. We remain dedicated to working with our distributor partners to deliver the highest quality spinal solutions for surgeons and patients across the country. I look forward to joining forces with Jay and the CoreLink team to amplify our strengths and leverage our combined resources to offer more life-changing spinal devices.”
Mr. Bartling remarked, “At CoreLink, we’ve solidified our reputation as an innovator of quality orthopedic and spinal devices that have improved the quality of life for countless patients. We are confident this milestone will allow us to continue executing on our mission, while further enhancing our capabilities to best serve our surgeon partners.”
Don Gerne, Managing Director at Gemspring, commented, “Through this transformative combination, Zavation and CoreLink will be able to provide an expanded product suite and enhanced capabilities to remain hyper-responsive to the needs of customers and partners across the country. We share a vision with Jeffrey, Jay and the entire management team to be the partner of choice for best-in-class spinal surgical solutions, and we are confident this step will position the business for long-term growth and continued success.”
About Zavation
Based in Flowood, MS, Zavation designs, engineers, and manufactures a portfolio of spinal hardware and biologics covering key areas including cervical, thoracolumbar, interbody fusion, interventional spine, and minimally invasive surgery. Founded in 2012, Zavation has experienced exceptional growth and created a national network of numerous distributors across the United States. The company has commercialized over 25 product families since inception. Zavation operates a newly constructed 75,000 square foot vertically integrated facility in Flowood, MS. To learn more information about Zavation and the Company’s suite of products, visit www.zavation.com.
About CoreLink
CoreLink, known as The Source for Spine™, internally designs and manufactures more than 99% of its broad portfolio of spinal implant systems. With a unique heritage that combines old-world craftsmanship with state-of-art manufacturing, we collaborate with surgeons to develop and deliver effective surgical solutions and improve the lives of patients. For more information, visit www.corelinksurgical.com.
About Gemspring Capital
Gemspring Capital, a Westport, Connecticut-based private equity firm with $3.4 billion of capital under management, provides flexible capital solutions to middle market companies. Gemspring partners with talented management teams and takes a partnership approach to helping drive revenue growth, value creation and sustainable competitive advantages. Target companies have up to $500 million in revenue and are in the aerospace & defense, business services, consumer services, financial and insurance services, healthcare services, industrial services, software and tech-enabled services, or specialty manufacturing sectors. For more information, visit www.gemspring.com.
Contacts
Don Gerne, donald@gemspring.com
SOURCE Gemspring Capital
Image Credit: Gemspring Capital
