A Medical Device Daily

Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) reported that it will acquire Raytel Cardiac Services (RCS; Windsor, Connecticut), a division of Raytel Medical, and other operations from SHL Telemedicine (Tel Aviv, Israel), for about $110 million in cash. RCS will become part of Philips’ Home Healthcare Solutions group.

The deal is expected to close in 4Q07.

RCS provides home cardiac monitoring services that doctors prescribe to heart patients.

Ron Feinstein, CEO of Philips’ Home Healthcare Solutions, said, “Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the West. So Philips has invested heavily over the year, to become the top supplier to hospitals of medical equipment for managing heart disease.... [W]e’re looking for innovative and effective ways to support both patients and the healthcare system. Raytel can help us extend the cardiac care cycle into the home, which is where patients prefer to stay, and where we see opportunities for addressing healthcare costs as well as quality of life issues.”

Philips said that the activities acquired are expected to have 2007 sales of about $55 million, and that it will capitalize on RCS’s existing relationships with 15,000 physicians and cardiologists who serve more than 200,000 patients a year for its Lifeline products and service and its in-house lremote patient monitoring products and services.

New products and services based on Philips’ and SHL’s products and solutions, such as congestive heart failure (CHF) monitoring in the home, are also expected to fuel growth, the company said. Given that Philips Lifeline’s 750,000 subscribers often suffer from a variety of chronic illnesses, including CHF, Philips said it expects they also will benefit from a cardiac monitoring service supported by trained cardiac technicians that Raytel offers.

ev3 (Plymouth, Minnesota) and FoxHollow Technologies (Redwood City, California) said they have completed their $780 million cash/stock merger. ev3 has acquired all of FoxHollow‘s common stock, and FoxHollow is now a subsidiary of ev3.

The merger, first disclosed in July, creates a company with a market capitalization of about $1.7 billion (Medical Device Daily, July 24, 2007). The combined portfolio will include products to treat diseases in both the peripheral and neurovascular markets, including atherectomy and thrombectomy, PTA balloons, stents, embolic protection devices, infusion catheters/wires, embolic coils and liquid embolics.

“This merger brings together two industry leaders who share a deep commitment to advancing the treatment of peripheral and neurovascular disease, creating a single, best-in-class technology resource for specialists who treat endovascular disease,” said Jim Corbett, CEO/chairman of ev3. “Further, the combination has produced a much more financially powerful company, as we expect to generate significant annual cost savings from enhanced efficiency of sales and marketing efforts, increased purchasing scale, sourcing and logistics efficiencies and shared administrative services. In addition to enhancing profitability, this will allow for more opportunities for growth through internal and external development programs.”

John Simpson, former CEO/founder of FoxHollow, and vice chairman and chief scientist of ev3, said the company will have direct operations or independent distributor presence in more than 60 countries with about 1,500 employees. He said ev3’s international presence would be used to increase penetration of FoxHollow’s SilverHawk technology outside the U.S.

The combined company’s ownership consists of about 41% from FoxHollow stockholders and 59% from ev3 stockholders.

ev3 is focused on endovascular technologies for the minimally invasive treatment of vascular diseases and disorders. FoxHollow develops minimally invasive devices for the removal of plaque and thrombus for the treatment of peripheral artery disease.

In other dealmaking news, Bausch & Lomb (B&L; Rochester, New York) said it has received tenders and consents for four series of outstanding debt securities and two series of outstanding convertible debt securities.

These tender offers and consent solicitations were part of the financing associated with the proposed $3.67 billion merger between the company and an affiliate of Warburg Pincus that was first disclosed in May (MDD, May 25, 2007).

B&L said it received tenders and consents in respect to the following amounts of debt securities: $72.8 million, or about 54.63% of the aggregate principal amount, of the 6.95% senior notes due 2007; $49.3 million, or roughly 98.5% of the aggregate principal amount, of the 5.9% senior notes due 2008; $342,000, or about 81.24% of the aggregate principal amount, of the 6.56% medium-term notes due 2026; and $53.6 million, or roughly 80.74% of the aggregate principal amount, of the 7.125% debentures due 2028.

The company reported initiating cash tenders and consents for the debt securities last month (MDD, Sept. 21, 2007).

Citigroup Global Markets, Banc of America, Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan are the dealer managers for the tender offers and consent solicitations.