A Medical Device Daily

MicroMed Cardiovascular (Houston) reported that it has completed an equity financing through a private placement of $15.425 million of common stock and warrants to institutional investors.

Hunter World Markets (Beverly Hills, California) acted as the company's sole placement agent.

The company said that the proceeds of the transaction are expected to support continued clinical studies and research associated with its DeBakey ventricular assist device (VAD), expansion of sales and marketing activities in international markets – where the DeBakey VAD has received CE-marking – and for general corporate purposes.

Travis Baugh, president and CEO of MicroMed, called the financing “a significant event in the history of MicroMed” and that it “demonstrates the value that investors place in our technology and our management team and will enable us to move forward with several planned improvements in our technology and infrastructure.

Baugh said that the company also plans to seek a listing for the company's stock on a national securities exchange “in the near future.”

MicroMed's flagship platform is the DeBakey VAD for the treatment of advanced heart failure, offering, it says, “an important therapeutic option” for those needing a heart transplant but too far down on the transplant list to receive one.

It currently has ongoing two clinical trials evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the device for use as a bridge to heart transplant and for destination therapy for patients ineligible for a heart transplant.

The DeBakey VAD Child is a miniaturized implantable VAD, for use in children, the only such device FDA-approved and CE-marked.

In other financing activity:

• American Medical Systems Holdings (AMSH; Minneapolis) reported pricing $325 million of convertible senior subordinated notes, due 2036, in accordance with a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company also granted underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional $48.75 of convertible notes to cover any over-allotments.

The notes will be convertible upon the occurrence of specified events into cash and, in certain circumstances, shares of company common stock at an initial conversion rate of 51.5318 shares per $1,000 of notes, equivalent to an initial conversion price of about $19.406 per share. If the conversion value of a note is greater than $1,000, the holder of the note will receive $1,000 in cash and the excess amount in shares of common stock. If the conversion value of the note is equal to or less than $1,000, the holder of the note will receive only cash upon note conversion.

AMSH said that it believes this provision, a net share settlement, may result in significantly less ownership dilution to the company and higher EPS than a standard convertible note.

The company said it will use proceeds of the offering to fund a portion of the merger consideration of the company's acquisition of Laserscope and for general working capital purposes. If the Laserscope acquisition does not occur, AMSH said it will use the proceeds from this offering for working capital and general corporate purposes, including possible acquisitions.

Piper Jaffray & Co. is acting as the sole bookrunner for the offering. Co-managers are Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and KeyBanc Capital Markets.

• Mentor (Santa Barbara, California) reported that its board increased the number of shares of company common stock authorized for repurchase from 3.3 million to 5 million shares and that repurchases under will commence no earlier than the third trading day after the company's announcement of its financial results for the three months ending June 30.

Repurchases will not exceed $166 million, consistent with the limitations set forth in the company's credit agreement, as amended.

“We continue to focus on balancing our strategy for long-term growth while at the same time providing appropriate returns for our shareholders,” said Joshua Levine, president and CEO of Mentor.

To date in 2006, Mentor has repurchased roughly 3 million shares of its common stock at an average price of $42.33 and had around 41.3 million shares outstanding as of June 11.

Mentor manufactures products for the aesthetics, urologic specialties and clinical and consumer healthcare markets.

• Elekta (Stockholm, Sweden) reported repurchasing 54,500 B shares at an average price of SEK 125.86. Elekta said current holding of its own shares amounts to 54,500 B shares, with the number of shares in Elekta totaling 94,345,904 as of June 20.

Purchases will be made on the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the period until the next annual general meeting.

Elekta's solutions employ non-invasive or minimally invasive techniques, including, among others, its Leksell Gamma Knife for non-invasive treatment of brain disorders and Elekta Synergy for image guided radiation therapy (IGRT).

• Nationwide Health Properties (Newport Beach, California) reported $122 million of new investments, increasing its total so far for 2006 to $630 million – 81% senior housing, 10% long-term care and 9% medical office buildings.

“After back-to-back record investment years of $400 million each in 2004 and 2005,

2006 is becoming a transcendent year for NHP,” said Don Bradley, NHP's chief investment officer. “Our 2006 investments continue to be immediately accretive with solid going in coverages and built in annual rate increases of about 2.9%, adding even more to our growing FFO today and for years to come.”

Nationwide Health Properties invests in healthcare facilities and has investments in 487 facilities in 40 states.