Acelity, the biomedical company founded by a San Antonio physician 43 years ago that revolutionized wound care, will lay off 265 workers in the coming year.
The privately held company announced the layoffs to employees during the first week of February. About 200 positions in the company’s San Antonio headquarters office will be eliminated, with more than 1,000 remaining. The company has 5,000 employees worldwide.
Acelity plans to eliminate another 65 positions in its Charlotte, North Carolina, offices. That facility will be closed, and the remaining 30 employees will work remotely.
“We let our workforce know of our plans to invest in and transform our customer support and experience capabilities,” said a statement released by an Acelity spokeswoman. “Unfortunately, this will result in position eliminations for some of our colleagues in San Antonio and Charlotte in the coming months. While this decision is difficult, it is necessary as we expand our commitment to improving our customers’ experience.”
The company is currently in discussions with affected employees, and Acelity plans to offer support and resources to those employees, including employee assistance, career counseling, and outplacement services. The layoffs will occur later this year.
Acelity currently lists 55 San Antonio-based job openings on its website as well as others on the online job site Glassdoor, which estimates some salaries for those jobs starting at between $30,000 and $172,000.
CEO Andrew Eckert took the helm of Acelity in 2017, replacing Joe Woody, who had been with the company since 2011 but left not long after Acelity dropped plans to go public in 2016.
Woody was named CEO of what was then known as KCI in 2012 following the departure of Catherine Burzick and a leveraged buyout valued at $4.98 billion in cash.
Acelity is owned by a group led by London-based private equity firm Apax Partners, which is considering an initial public offering for Acelity sometime this year, according to recent reports. If Acelity goes public again, it would be the third time in company history since its founding in 1976.
Emergency room physician Jim Leininger started the company in San Antonio. In 1995, KCI produced the first commercial negative pressure wound therapy technology system, V.A.C. Therapy.
In 2017, Acelity sold its regenerative medicine unit, LifeCell, to the Irish pharmaceutical company Allergan for $2.9 billion.
