History
Foundation and first year of life
GVS was founded in 1979 by Grazia Valentini, with the support of her father Renato, who was one of the first Italian injection mould designers. Soon, thanks to their ambitious entrepreneurial vision, GVS began growing, opening two new production plants in Italy between 1983 and 1989.
In its early years, the group dedicated itself to the production of medical filters for the treatment of blood. In particular, it focused on filters for dialysis circuits, and later on filters for transfusion sets. In 1986 GVS obtained its first patent in the medical field, relating to an infusion device with air intakes. In the following years, several other patents were filed and registered, all characterized by the unique GVS quality of design.
The start of the global growth
In 1990 GVS opened a third production plant in Italy and, in 1993, it made its first acquisition, integrating Valplast srl, in the Automotive sector. This heralded the birth of the Energy & Mobility division of the Group.
GVS began its global expansion, with the opening in 1993 of the first overseas sales office, located in Belgrade. In 1995 this became one of the UN’s points of reference for the distribution of medical products during the Bosnian war. In the same year GVS started distribution in the United States, then subsequently in 1997 it opened a commercial company in Buenos Aires and then in 1998 a new production plant in Brazil.
In these years, GVS was one of the first companies to obtain the ISO9001 quality certification, confirming and maintaining its record of demonstrating a strong focus on quality. This would then be followed by the QS9000 and AVSQ’94, and later by several other Italian and international certifications witnessing the absolute quality level of the Group’s activities, as well as its keen responsibility regarding environmental criteria (ISO 14001).
In 1999, the new Energy & Mobility division also obtained its first patent, relating to filtration systems for Braking Systems Provided with Anti-Lock System (ABS).
The generational succession and the acceleration of growth
In 2001 GVS became a limited company, and began a management succession path, with the involvement of Grazia Valentini’s sons, Massimo and Marco Scagliarini. This lead to Massimo Scagliarini’s appointment as Chief Executive Officer in 2003. In recent years, the Group has continued on its growth path by opening new production plants in Southern Italy in 2000 and 2002, followed by new commercial offices in China (2002) and the United States (2003), Mexico (2004) and the USA (2005). In addition to this, in 2007 GVS acquired a company in China and then in 2009, despite the onset of the global financial crisis, the Group made new acquisitions in Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.
During this time, the registering of patents continued, in particular in the Healthcare & Life Sciences division. New product and process patents included: a medical device for microfiltration in intravenous infusion; a device for regulating the flow rate of fluids directed to patients, and the preparation of hydrophobic membranes for ventilation devices.
The M&As years
Between 2010 and 2015, GVS focused on a major reorganization and restructuring of the Group and its plants: new offices and companies were opened in Japan (2012), Korea (2014) and Russia (2014) and the expansion of the Group’s production plants continued in Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom. In addition, GVS completed 6 acquisitions, including two in China in 2011 and 2012, followed by two more in 2012 in The United States and The United Kingdom respectively. The last of these determines the birth of the third division of the Group: Health & Safety, which in 2015 was further strengthened by the acquisition of a company producing disposable masks in Brazil, as well as a company that produced Biohazard protective devices in Italy.
Among the most important patents obtained by GVS in this period were: a ventilation element that protected vehicle headlights and other electronics from water; a method of making a mini-vial with a reduced number of components; a modular filter for efficient ventilation of buildings.
Continued growth and stock market flotation
GVS continued its path of growth and internationalization, opening an office in Turkey and in 2019 a new production plant in Mexico while also acquiring a company in Sweden (2016), the American group Kuss Filtration (2017) and another company in the United States (2020). Moreover, in 2020 with the acquisition of Haemonetics’ plant in Puerto Rico, GVS became one of the world’s largest manufacturers of white blood cell filters and the Group continued its expansion with the opening of 2 new offices in India and Malaysia.
On 19 June 2020, GVS successfully achieved listing on the MTA market of the Italian Stock Exchange, further testifying to the validity of the Group’s growth path and business model.
Internationalization and strengthening in the Healthcare and Safety industries
The GVS Group, which has always shown a strong inclination to expansion on global markets, in 2021 has completed the opening of a sales office in Thailand and expects further openings in the Asian market.
In this context of development on international markets, on September 2021, GVS has announced the acquisition of RPB, an American player specialized in the design and production of respiratory protection devices. This deal has the objective of completing the Group’s product range in the field of professional masks and to acquire technical know-how.
In March 2022, GVS completed, through its wholly-owned subsidiary GVS Technology (Suzhou) Co. Ltd, the acquisition of the entire share capital of Shanghai Transfusion Technology Co. Ltd., a long-established Chinese company that is a leading manufacturer and distributor of products related to blood treatment.
In May 2022, GVS acquired 100% of the share capital of the Italian Group Haemotronic, a leading supplier of advanced filtration solutions for highly critical applications and a specialized producer of components and bags for the medical sector with plants in Italy and Mexico.
In line with its strategy, the acquisition of the company contributes to the growth of GVS's product portfolio which can thus integrate and expand the range of products offered and strengthen its presence in the European and North American markets within the healthcare sector.