A Medical Device Daily

Baxter International (Deerfield, Illinois) said it has agreed to acquire all of the outstanding equity of ApaTech (London), a private equity-backed, orthobiologic products company, for up to $330 million.

The agreement includes an upfront cash payment of $240 million. Baxter may make additional payments of up to $90 million related to the achievement of sales milestones. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter, subject to customary closing conditions and expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. This deal is not expected to have a material impact on Baxter's 2010 financial results, the company said.

As a result of the acquisition, Baxter will acquire Actifuse, a silicate substitution calcium phosphate synthetic bone graft material which is currently sold in the U.S., Europe, and other select markets around the world, and manufacturing and R&D facilities in the UK, U.S., and Germany.

“This is a significant step in enhancing Baxter's position in the rapidly growing orthobiologics space, and our leadership in regenerative medicine,“ said Ron Lloyd, VP and general manager of BioTherapeutics and Regenerative Medicine at Baxter. “Actifuse will allow us to immediately enter the emerging bone fusion category, and ApaTech's product pipeline is highly complementary to our existing commercial and technical capabilities in biosurgery.“

ApaTech generated sales of about $60 million in calendar year 2009, the company noted. Baxter said personnel from both companies would work to ensure uninterrupted operations, product distribution and ongoing support and service for ApaTech customers, distributors and business partners, and seamless integration of the business into Baxter.

“This is a great event for ApaTech, Baxter, our customers and our employees,“ said Simon Cartmell, CEO of ApaTech. “The combination of our market presence and insights with the resources of Baxter will enable us to deliver innovative new technologies to more patients worldwide. We are delighted to announce this transaction, and look forward to the future of our combined organizations with confidence and excitement.“

• Solta Medical (Hayward, California), a medical aesthetics company, said it has completed its acquisition of Aesthera (Pleasanton, California) for $5.25 million in Solta common stock and cash, with potential additional base line milestones of $750,000 for a total consideration of $6 million. The deal brings together the Isolaz brand of products for the treatment of acne with Solta's brands for skin tightening and skin resurfacing, Thermage and Fraxel, the company noted.

In addition, there are $10 million of stretch milestones which would be paid to Aesthera shareholders if Aesthera achieves revenue ranging from $14 million to $21 million in the 12 months beginning April 1, Solta noted.

• AbSorber (Stockholm) said it is acquiring NorDiag's (Oslo, Norway) share of Olerup (Vienna, Austria). AbSorber said it is buying the company with SSP Primers (Carlsbad, California). After the transaction, AbSorber will own 50% of Olerup and SSP Primers will own the other half.

Olerup is selling the Olerup SSP HLA typing products and AbSorbers transplantation cross match test in the U.S. The American market also includes Canada and South America. Olerup will continue to sell NorDiag's product Arrow on the American market. Olerup has seven employees but will be increased as a consequence of the plans to further improve the presence in the HLA market, the company said.

• BioMed Realty Trust (San Diego) said it has acquired two life science buildings comprising roughly 82,400 square feet in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The company bought the property for about $14.4 million, excluding closing costs. The property is 100% leased to two tenants: MedImmune (Gaithersburg), a subsidiary of AstraZeneca (London), and GenVec (Gaithersburg), a biopharmaceutical company.