Isolyser hopes White Knight purchase will set stage for Degradables sales. (Isolyser Company Inc. acquires White Knight Health Care)

In a move designed to help the company tap into the operating room market, provide an outlet for increased production capacity and build its sales volume, Isolyser Co., Inc., Norcross, Ga., acquired White Knight Healthcare, Inc., a producer of packs, gowns and surgical masks. Isolyser, which has enjoyed a meteoric rise on the stock market since rolling out its line of ORex(R) Degradables(TM), paid $29.5 million ($7 million of it in Isolyser stock) for Asheville, N.C.-based White Knight, a privately held company with 1994 sales of approximately $55 million and operating income of about $4 million. Hospitals comprise most White Knight customers, though some OEM production is also …