A Medical Device Daily
Zimmer (Warsaw, Indiana) said it has acquired Sodem Diffusion (Geneva, Switzerland), a company that makes the line of SoPlus orthopedic surgical power tools. Post-acquisition, the company will become part of Zimmer Surgical (Dover, Ohio).
According to Zimmer, SoPlus' small as well as large bone product categories will broaden its product range thereby strengthening its market position in the surgical power tool market valued at more than $1 billion.
Earlier this week, Zimmer said it has completed the acquisition of Beijing Montagne Medical Device Co., in a move that is expected to bolster its presence in the growing Chinese market (Medical Device Daily, Dec. 27, 2010). The acquisition will permit Zimmer to provide an expanded product line in knees, hips and powered surgical instruments geared for the Asian market.
In other dealmaking activity:
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Waltham, Massachusetts) said it has completed its acquisition of Lomb Scientific, a provider of laboratory chemicals, consumables and instruments in Australia and New Zealand.
Lomb has nearly 100 employees at its offices and warehouses in both countries, particularly in Sydney, Perth and Auckland.
• Ventas (Chicago) said its subsidiary, Lillibridge Healthcare Services, has acquired a portfolio of five class A medical office buildings totaling 225,000 square feet on the campuses of ThedaCare hospitals in Appleton and Neenah, Wisconsin for a purchase price of $36.6 million.
The acquired medical office buildings will be managed by a subsidiary of Lillibridge. Ventas funded the acquisition with cash on hand.
• Palladium Equity Partners (New York), a private investment firm focused on investments in the U.S. Hispanic marketplace, said that one of its affiliates has acquired Jordan Healthcare Holdings (Mount Vernon, Texas). Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 1975, Jordan is one of the largest providers of home healthcare in Texas. Jordan offers home health services to pediatric and adult patients, including personal care, home management and skilled nursing, to Medicaid and/or Medicare eligible patients throughout the state.
Lazard Middle Market acted as financial advisor to Jordan in connection with the sale. CIT Healthcare acted as sole bookrunner and joint lead arranger along with Ally Commercial Finance on the senior financing. F&M Bank also participated in the senior financing. Prospect Capital provided the junior secured financing for the transaction.
• Generex Biotechnology (Worcester, Massachusetts) reported an agreement to extend the closing date of its acquisition of a controlling interest in Global Medical Direct (GMD; Lenexa, Kansas) to June 1. Generex reported its pending acquisition of GMD this fall (Medical Device Daily, Oct. 12, 2010).
• Pathfinder (Cambridge, Massachusetts), a private cell-based therapeutics firm, and biomaterials firm SyntheMed (Iselin, New Jersey) have merged. The newly formed company, Pathfinder Cell Therapy will have its headquarters in Cambridge and will be led by new CEO/president Richard Franklin and chairman Joerg Gruber.
Franklin previously served as executive chairman of SyntheMed and CEO, president and manager of Pathfinder; Gruber is a former director of SyntheMed and chairman of Pathfinder.
Pathfinder Cell Therapy will focus on cell-based therapy for regenerative medicine.
No financial terms of the merger were disclosed, but terms of the agreement call for Pathfinder members to own about 80% of the combined company's stock, while SyntheMed members will hold about 20% of the stock.