St. Jude Medical is paying over $1 billion to buy out AGA Medical, a Minnesota-based company that makes devices to treat heart defects and vascular abnormalities. The company has 2009 sales of about $199 million. St. Jude will pay $20.80 per share--a 41 percent premium--in a transaction valued at approximately $1.3 billion, including the assumption of approximately $225 million in outstanding debt.
The buyout give St. Jude a broader portfolio in faster-growth areas of the market. The diversity will help the med device maker expand beyond its core business of implantable cardioverter defibrillators and pacemakers, which has seen slower growth in recent years. St. Jude will gain entrance into four new markets: the market for left atrial appendage (LAA) closures, the market for patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure in cryptogenic stroke patients, the market to modify abnormal peripheral vessels with vascular plugs and the market to repair structural heart defects. AGA Medical will become part of St. Jude Medical's Cardiovascular Division, and CEO John Barr will join St. Jude 's staff.
"We are very pleased to be joining St. Jude Medical, which--through its geographic scale, expertise and resources--will help us expand the reach of our products both geographically and across physician specialties," noted Barr in a statement
- check out the St. Jude release
- here's the Reuters report