3M said on Tuesday that it would pay $2.5 billion to acquire Capital Safety, a Bloomington-based safety equipment manufacturer.
 
The purchase is meant to bolster the Maplewood-based company’s personal safety portfolio. Capital Safety makes products such as construction gear, seatbelts and harnesses.
 
“Personal safety is a large and strategically important growth business in the 3M portfolio,” CEO Inge G. Thulin said in a statement.
 
Capital Safety was previously owned by KKR, a global investment firm located in New York. The company has seen large growth over the past four years, including a compound annual growth rate of 10 percent and sales of approximately $430 million.
 
Capital Safety currently employs 1,500 people worldwide and has no layoff plans. With its acquisition, 3M is also assuming $700 million of Capital Safety’s debt.
 
3M’s stock remained largely unchanged by the news as of midday Tuesday.