Kimberly-Clark is spinning off a $1.7 billion-a-year health care company that will locate its headquarters in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Ga.
The new company, to be known as Halyard Health, is expected to employ about 150 to 200 employees at the new 174,000-square-foot facility in Alpharetta.
"As we embark as a new company, Halyard Health will draw on a rich heritage of leadership from Kimberly-Clark in infection prevention, surgical protection, respiratory health, digestive health and pain management," said Robert E. Abernathy, future chairman and chief executive officer of Halyard Health, said in a statement today. "We are proud to remain strongly rooted in north Fulton and look forward to growing and investing in Georgia in the years to come."
Halyard Health will be a publicly traded health care company with approximately $1.7 billion in annual net sales and leading market positions in both surgical and infection prevention products and medical devices. The new headquarters complex will house corporate officers and various corporate functions including finance, IT, procurement, engineering and quality.
"Georgia's health care industry is uniquely poised to support Halyard Health," Georgia Gpov. Nathan Deal said. "This company is taking advantage of an eager, skilled workforce and an advanced life science and healthcare ecosystem. Special thanks to Kimberly-Clark for the major role it is playing in Georgia's economic development and for supporting our state's ever-changing health care industry - an industry that we are committed to growing."
Georgia is home to more than 400 life science companies, half of which are in the medical devices sector and employ 27 percent of Georgia's life science workforce.