Medical-device contract manufacturer Accellent Inc., Wilmington, Mass., (accellent.com) will merge with affiliates of private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), (kkr.com). The merger is valued at about $1.27 billion. Accellent's management will partner with KKR to retain a stake in the company. No changes are expected in Accellent's strategy or operations.

Accellent also acquired two companies that design, develop, and manufacture orthopaedic implants and instruments for the orthopaedic industry. Campbell Engineering, Huntsville, Ala., was acquired September 12 and Machining Technology Group (MTG), Arlington, Tenn., on October 6. In other news, Accellent received company-wide certification to ISO 13485:2003, which is specifically for the medical-device industry.