• American Medical Systems Holdings (AMS; Minnetonka, Minnesota) said it has agreed to acquire Laserscope (San Jose, California), maker of a surgical treatment of obstructive benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), for $31 a share in cash, or about $715 million. Through the acquisition of Laserscope, AMS said it will be committed to providing a range of therapy solutions for BPH patients. While AMS currently offers to urologists its TherMatrx product for the treatment of non-obstructive BPH, the addition of GreenLight to the AMS product line will allow AMS to enter the obstructive BPH segment which requires tissue removal for patient relief. The company said it does not plan to retain the surgical aesthetics business of Laserscope, as it does not view that portion of the company as a “strategic fit.” The acquisition is expected to close sometime in 3Q06.

• The Bracco Group (Milan, Italy) and Integrated Medical Solutions (Alexandria, Virginia) reported the formation of a new company, Integrated Cardiac Solutions (ICS), focused, the companies said, on providing services that enable outpatient cardiology groups and heart centers to implement cardiac PET perfusion imaging technology for the detection of cardiovascular disease. ICS will provide outpatient cardiology groups and heart centers a complimentary practice assessment to help them determine if a cardiac PET program is economically feasible.

• Empire Investment Holdings (Miami), a firm focused on the acquisition and strategic management of corporate divestitures, reported signing an agreement to acquire the off-site surgical reprocessing division, formerly known as MSI Medical Sterilization (Syossett, New York), of SSI Surgical Services (Orlando, Florida). The reprocessing business reprocesses reusable surgical instruments to hospitals and surgery centers.

• Encore Medical (Austin, Texas) said it will sell its Slendertone U.S. consumer product line – consisting of “toning” and exercise/fitness products – for about $6.8 million in cash, primarily for the Slendertone inventory and all of the Slendertone distribution rights in the U.S., to Bio-Medical Research (Galway, Ireland).

• Mentor (Santa Barbara, California), a supplier of medical products for the global aesthetic medicine market, said it has completed the previously disclosed sale of its Surgical Urology and Clinical and Consumer Healthcare business segments to Coloplast (Humlebaek, Denmark) for $463 million. Dave Amerson, vice president, urology, will be transferring from Mentor to Coloplast to head up the combined Urology/Continence business. Coloplast will continue the Mentor brand for a transition period, after which Coloplast will undergo a branding migration process that will help develop a common identity for its products. Coloplast said it will relocate all U.S. operations in sales, marketing and shared services to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. As part of the acquisition and restructuring effort, the Mentor Santa Barbara, California, and Coloplast Marietta, Georgia, facilities will be closed and operations transferred to Minnesota. Coloplast anticipates that the reorganization will occur over a period of 12 to 18 months. Rochester Medical (Stewartville, Minnesota) also reported closing its previously disclosed transactions in connection with the Coloplast-Mentor deal. Rochester has acquired certain assets of Coloplast and Mentor related to sales of Male External Catheters (MECs) in the UK. The assets include Clear Advantage, Freedom, Freedom Plus, and Transfix brands of MECs. They also include Mentor’s UK Dispensing Appliance Contractor License and its sales offices and warehouse facility in Lancing, UK. The recently formed Rochester Medical Ltd. now owns, staffs and operates the facility. The company also acquired certain operating assets of Mentor’s Anoka, Minnesota, silicone male external catheter manufacturing facility. Mentor has conveyed to Rochester all intellectual property related to the manufacturing and sale of silicone MECs at the Anoka facility.

• Patient Safety Technologies (Los Angeles) reported that it will merge with and adopt the name of its wholly owned subsidiary, SurgiCount Medical (Temecula, California). The company makes the Safety-Sponge system, a program of thermally-affixed, data matrix-tagged surgical sponges, line-of-sight scanning technology and documentation that offers surgeons and hospitals a solution to gossypiboma, the term for surgical sponges unintentionally left inside a human body after surgery.

• In what is one of the largest device sector deals to emerge this year, Royal Philips Electronics (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) reported that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Intermagnetics General (Latham, New York) for $27.50 per share or a total equity value of about $1.3 billion (EUR 1 billion) to be paid in cash upon completion. The board of directors of Intermagnetics has unanimously approved the proposed transaction. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval, to the terms and conditions of the merger agreement and to the approval of Intermagnetics’ shareholders. Intermagnetics makes high-field superconducting magnets used in MRI systems, and is viewed as one of the technological innovators in this market. It also provides specialized MRI-compatible patient monitoring devices and radio frequency (RF) coils that are predominantly supplied to hospitals. Intermagnetics’ headquarters in Latham, New York will become the global headquarters of Philips’ enlarged Magnetic Resonance business.