3M Acquires Capital Safety for $2.5 Billion

3M has agreed to buy safety-equipment maker, Capital Safety, from private equity firm KKR & Co. for about $2.5 billion, the largest purchase in the company’s 113-year history, according to Bloomberg.  Capital Safety makes fall-protection gear and had sales of $430 million for the year ending in March, St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M said Tuesday. “Personal safety is a large and strategically important growth business in the 3M portfolio,” Chief Executive Officer Inge Thulin said in a statement, Bloomberg reported. “Demand for safety equipment is growing quickly, especially in emerging markets as worker-protection regulations increase and multinational companies expand. Capital Safety has posted annual revenue growth of 10 percent in the past four years,” according to the statement. (Bloomberg)