A Medical Device Daily

SFW Capital Partners (Rye, New York) reported the closing of its private equity fund of more than $300 million.

Participants in the fund are Thomas Salice, Roger Freeman and Norm Wells, all former senior investment professionals at AEA Investors; Casey Lynch, also an AEA Investors alumnus and most recently a partner at Parthenon Capital; and David Webb who previously led Merrill Lynch & Co.’s financial sponsors group.

SFW said it typically invests $15 million-$75 million to support mid-sized companies in its focus sectors, with emphasis on measurement and diagnostics, highly-engineered industrial products, and related services. The firm invests in established companies including family businesses, public companies and corporate division carve-outs where there is some history of profitability and the company has a solid position in its core markets.

SFW’s investors include endowments, foundations, family offices and financial institutions, the firm said.

In other financing activity:

• EyeGate Pharma (Waltham, Massachusetts), a specialty pharmaceutical firm using iontophoresis technology to deliver therapeutics into the front and back of the eye for treating ocular diseases, reported securing $15 million in a Series C venture round.

New investor, Medicis Capital, joined existing investors Ventech, Innoven Partenaires and The Nexus Group. The funding brings the total venture investment in EyeGate to $31 million.

Stephen From, president/CEO of EyeGate, said the financing will allow the company to enter two Phase II clinical studies using its EyeGate II delivery system and a formulation of a corticosteroid. In the first half of 2008 the company will initiate a Phase II trial in severe uveitis, he said, and in the second half plans to begin a Phase II trial in dry eye.

Alain Maiore, managing partner of VenTech, said, “Over the past year, EyeGate has optimized its ocular delivery platform, the EyeGate II delivery system, and built on its strong intellectual property position. This platform was developed to deliver a wide range of therapeutics, giving EyeGate the ability to quickly develop a pipeline of commercially attractive compounds.”

• BioTime (Emeryville, California) reported that The Life Extension Foundation has joined a group of lenders providing a revolving line of credit to the company, the amount not disclosed.

BioTime develops blood plasma volume expanders, blood replacement solutions for hypothermic (low temperature) surgery, organ preservation solutions, and technology for use in surgery, emergency trauma treatment and other applications. The company has recently entered the field of regenerative medicine through its subsidiary Embryome Sciences (Emeryville), to develop medical and research products using embryonic stem cell technology.

The Life Extension Foundation is a non-profit organization seeking methods to slow aging and uncover therapies to treat the diseases of aging such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, stroke, and macular degeneration.

BioTime received its initial funds from The Life Extension Foundation under a credit agreement amendment increasing its line of credit by $100,000. The total line of credit is now $1.1 million.

• Alliance Imaging (Anaheim, California), a provider of diagnostic imaging services, said it completed its offer to exchange up to $150 million of its 7% series B senior subordinated notes, due 2012, issued in a private placement.

Alliance said that all of the $150 million amount of notes was received before the expiration of the exchange offer at 5 p.m. EST, on Tuesday.

• Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp; Burlington, North Carolina) reported that from Wednesday to Sept. 11, its zero coupon subordinated liquid yield option notes (LYONs), due 2021, and zero coupon convertible subordinated notes, due 2021, will accrue contingent cash interest at a rate of no less than 0.125% of the average market price of a LYON or zero coupon note for the five trading days ended March 7. Contingent cash interest will be payable to note holders as of Aug. 27. The payment of contingent cash is expected to be made on Sept. 11.

LabCorp offers clinical assays ranging from routine blood analyses to HIV and genomic testing.

• Omnicell (Mountain View, California), a provider of system solutions to acute healthcare facilities, said it has completed its $40 million program to repurchase shares of its common stock. A total of 2,133,898 shares were repurchased at an average price of $18.75, the company said.

• CardioDynamics (San Diego) said its board has approved a resolution proposing a reverse 1-for-7 stock split, expected to become effective, shortly after the company’s annual meeting May 8. Each seven shares of CardioDynamics common stock issue will be combined into one share of common stock, with the effect of proportionately increasing the stock price, the company said.

Total shares outstanding will be reduced to about 7.2 million shares. The reverse split will affect all shares of CardioDynamics common stock proportionally.

CardioDynamics develops BioZ Impedance Cardiography (ICG) products used to treat cardiovascular disease.