• Eclipsys (Atlanta) reported completing its purchase of MediNotes (West Des Moines, Iowa), a provider of physician practice information solutions, and has made it a wholly owned subsidiary. Eclipsys paid about $45 million for MediNotes, 39% in cash and 61% in Eclipsys stock, and the retirement of certain arrangements surviving from the acquisition by MediNotes of Bond Technologies (Chaska, Minnesota), and affiliates in February. Eclipsys reported its agreement to acquire MediNotes in September to support its provision of solutions that help health systems connect with physicians, physicians with their patients.

• Hill-Rom (Batesville, Indiana) said it has acquired Liko (Lulea, Sweden), a developer of lifts and slings designed for the safe movement of patients, for $183 million. About half of the purchase price will be paid with cash on hand, the company said. The other half will be financed from available lines of credit.

Evli Bank was financial advisor to Hill-Rom and Ernst & Young was financial advisor to the sellers. Vinge and Bracewell & Giuliani served as legal advisors to Hill-Rom and Cederquist as legal advisor to the sellers.

LLR Partners (Philadelphia), an equity investment firm with more than $1.4 billion under management, said it has provided equity capital to RecoverCare (Radnor, Pennsylvania) for RecoverCare's acquisition of T.H.E Medical (Barrie, Ontario). RecoverCare is a supplier of bariatric, wound care and patient-handling products and services to acute care and long-term acute care (LTAC) hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, rehabilitation hospitals, hospice and home care patients. T.H.E. makes patient handling and transfer equipment, and provider of related services, for acute care, LTAC, and long-term care. RecoverCare said the acquisition provides it a product design and manufacturing platform in the "high-growth" market for safe patient handling,

• MediCult (Denmark, Sweden) a developer of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), reported that it has entered into a share purchase agreement to acquire MidAtlantic Diagnostics (Mount Laurel, New Jersey) a U.S. supplier of ART products, for $15.5 million. Following the acquisition, MidAtlantic Diagnostics will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of MediCult and remain at its current location in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Closing of the transaction is expected at the latest Nov. 15, 2008.

Med-tech giant Medtronic (Minneapolis) has its sights set on a Canadian company that uses freezing to treat heart arrhythmias – and has agreed to pay $380 million in cash to buy it. The company made a takeover bid for all of the outstanding shares of CryoCath (Montreal) for C$8.75 a share in cash, or $380 million (C$400 million). The CryoCath board has recommended that its shareholders accept the offer, and the acquisition is expected to close in 4Q08. CryoCath makes cryotherapy products to treat cardiac arrhythmias. Its flagship product, the Arctic Front, is a minimally invasive cryo-balloon catheter designed to treat atrial fibrillation (AF), an emerging $2 billion market opportunity. The device is already sold in Europe and is in a pivotal study in the U.S.

• Memry (Bethel, Connecticut) reported the closing of its merger with SAES Getters (Milan, Italy), and Saes Devices, which was disclosed in August. The purchase price was $78.4 million in cash, resulting in a consideration of $2.53 a share of Memry common stock. Memry said its CEO, Robert Belcher, has retired and Dean Tulumaris, who has served as president/COO of Memry since May 2006, has been named the new CEO. Memry provides design support, engineering, development, and manufacturing services to the medical device and other industries using its technologies.

• Natus Medical (San Carlos, California) reported completing its previously disclosed $18 million acquisition of privately held NeuroCom International (Clackamas, Oregon), which develops computerized systems for the assessment and rehabilitation of balance and mobility disorders. Natus is a provider of healthcare products used for the screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking of common medical ailments such as hearing impairment, neurological dysfunction, epilepsy, sleep disorders and newborn care.

• Owens & Minor (O&M; Richmond, Virginia) said it has acquired certain assets and liabilities of The Burrows Co. (Wheeling, Illinois), a private distributor of medical and surgical supplies to the acute-care market. The deal was first disclosed in August when O&M agreed to pay $30.2 million for the net assets of Burrows and said it would assume the company's debt.