aap Implantate AG signs second contract with a U.S. sales partner

aap Implantate AG takes a further step toward strategic internationalization, signs sales agreement with U.S. partner Orthopaedic Solutions. aap Implantate AG made its first move into the world's fastest-growing market for orthopaedic products, the U.S., in 1998 when it set up its subsidiary aap Implants Inc., with its own sales force, in Plymouth, Mass. aap Implantate AG builds consistently on contacts made at major congresses and trade fairs and in August this year took its first step toward boosting its marketing activities in the U.S. market by concluding a sales agreement with a partner in Cincinnati, Ohio, who represents aap in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. aap's presence in the U.S. market has now been extended by the signing of a further sales contract with Orthopaedic Solutions of Columbia, South Carolina. Orthopaedic Solutions represents aap in North and South Carolina and Georgia. It is the successor to Carolina Orthopaedic Sales, which for 10 years held exclusive agency rights for Johnson & Johnson in its area. After Johnson & Johnson merged with De Puy, the company renamed itself Orthopaedic Solutions 11 months ago. Orthopaedic Solutions can look back on long years of experience and invaluable contacts in marketing orthopaedic products. It currently employs a sales staff of 8, can look back on its first successful months in business and plans to double its sales force by the end of 2000. Orthopaedic Solutions' close and established links with well-known universities underscore the strategic importance of the agreement concluded, especially in connection with enlarging aap Implantate AG's international cooperation network. aap Implantate AG's international expansion strategy, especially in the U.S. market, has thus taken a further step forward, and others are sure to follow soon as a results of talks in progress with other potential partners.