A Medical Device Daily

Thomas, McNerney & Partners (Stamford, Connecticut), a healthcare venture capital firm that invests in life science and medical technology companies, reported the close of its second fund, Thomas, McNerney & Partners II, L.P. with $375 million in limited partner commitments.

Consistent with the firm's inaugural $216 million fund raised in 2002, Thomas, McNerney & Partners II will focus on leading investments in biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies across all stages of development.

The fund will have the flexibility to invest in a broad range of companies including those at the start-up, pre-clinical and clinical stage, as well as in companies seeking capital for commercialization, asset acquisitions, restructuring and consolidation. The partnership will seek opportunities in which more than $5 million and up to $40 million may be invested over the life of the company and where the firm can actively participate as a lead investor.

Thomas, McNerney & Partners has about $600 million under management.

NeoStem (Melville, New York), a company pioneering autologous adult stem cell (ASC) collection and banking service for the general population for long-term storage for multiple therapeutic uses, has completed a private financing in the amount of $1.75 million.

This is the second important financing the company has completed in less than three months. On June 12, the company, then operating as Phase III Medical, reported a financing in the amount of $2.08 million, with DC Associates acting as the principal investor.

On Aug. 30, following shareholders' approval of a corporate name change from Phase III Medical to NeoStem, the company entered into a securities purchase agreement with a group of individual accredited investors.

Additionally, 80% of the note holders from the convertible promissory note representing $400,000, issued by the company at the end of December 2005 and January 2006, elected to extend or convert into common shares of stock.

The money raised will be used to further develop the company's intellectual property – including its methodology for processing and long-term storage of peripheral blood stem cells – operations, and marketing, and to build partnerships with medical institutions, physicians and pharmaceutical companies.

The company said it has moved its corporate office from Melville to New York to be closer to the financial community and academic institutions.

The shareholders at the company's annual meeting held on Aug. 29 approved the change of the company's name to NeoStem and approved a reverse split of the company's common stock at a ratio of one-for-ten shares.

The stock has begun to trade under its new trading symbol: OTCBB:NEOI.

In other financing news:

• Merge Technologies (Milwaukee) reported that its board of directors has adopted a stock buyback plan for up to $20 million of the company's common stock over a two year period.

The timing and amount of any repurchases will be determined by the company, based upon an evaluation of market conditions, applicable securities laws, compliance with loan covenants, and other factors.

“Management believes that the potential long-term value of the company under new leadership is not currently reflected in the share price. As a result, the board of directors enacted measures which will help to more fully realize the potential of the company's strategy,” said company chairman Michael Dunham.

Merge Healthcare is a developer of medical imaging and information management software and services.

• Caden Biosciences (Madison, Wisconsin), a life sciences tools and services company developing assays for the high-throughput screening of allosteric modulators of G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs), has closed on a Series A preferred stock financing led by Baird Venture Partners (BVP), the U.S.-based venture capital affiliate of investment firm Robert W. Baird & Co.

BVP was joined in the financing by new investors including Venture Investors, The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, and IllinoisVentures, as well as existing investor Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tennessee).

The amount of the financing was not disclosed.

• Omega Healthcare Investors (Timonium, Maryland) reported closing on $25 million of new investments.

The transaction involved the sale and leaseback of two facilities; a skilled nursing facility in Pennsylvania and a combination SNF and rehabilitation hospital in West Virginia.

The facilities and related $2.6 million of initial annual rent were added to an existing master lease with Guardian. The amended master lease now includes 17 facilities and $11.2 million of annual rent, with annual escalators. In addition, the master lease term was extended from October 2014 through August 2016.

The company is a real estate investment trust investing in and providing financing to the long-term care industry. On Sept. 1, the company completed a $25 million investment with subsidiaries of Guardian LTC Management, an existing operator of the company.