A Medical Device Daily

Centre Partners (New York) and DSI Holding Co. reported that DSI's wholly owned subsidiary, National Renal Institutes (NRI; both Nashville, Tennessee), will acquire more than 100 dialysis clinics from Fresenius Medical Care Holdings (Lexington, Massachusetts) and Renal Care Group (Nashville, Tennessee). The value of the acquisitions was not disclosed.

DSI said the transaction would mark its first major acquisition since its recent investment from Centre Partners, and the private equity firm's entry into the healthcare services sector.

The dialysis clinics being acquired by DSI are being divested by Fresenius Medical Care Holdings – a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care (Hamburg, Germany), the world's largest provider of dialysis products and services – and Renal Care Group as a step toward concluding the review by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of Fresenius Medical Care's $3.5 billion acquisition of Renal Care Group that was first disclosed last spring (Medical Device Daily, May 5, 2005).

The sale of the clinics is expected to close shortly after the completion of the acquisition of Renal Care Group.

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals (Vancouver, British Col-umbia) reported that it has filed notification with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FTC of its intention to acquire privately held American Medical Instruments Holdings (AMI; Lake Forest, Illinois), a company of several manufacturers of medical devices, in compliance with the pre-merger notification requirements of the Hart-Scott- Rodino waiting period. AMI also filed its notification.

On Feb. 1, Angiotech reported that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AMI for $785 million in cash (MDD, Feb. 2, 2006).

Angiotech is a specialty pharmaceutical company pioneering the combination of pharmaceutical compounds with medical devices and biomaterials to create novel solutions for poorly addressed disease states and improve surgical outcomes.

In other dealmaking news, Emdeon (Elmwood Park, New Jersey) reported that, in connection with inquiries received from several third parties expressing an interest in acquiring its Emdeon Business Services and Emdeon Practice Services segments, its board of directors has authorized initiating a process to evaluate strategic alternatives relating to these businesses to maximize stockholder value.

The company's management has been authorized to engage financial advisors to assist the board in this process. Emdeon's ViPS business unit will not be included in this process and will be retained by Emdeon.

Emdeon also said that it has amended its existing tax sharing agreement with WebMD Health (also Elmwood Park) so that Emdeon will compensate WebMD for any use of WebMD's net operating losses that may result from a sale of Emdeon Business Services and Emdeon Practice Services.

Emdeon is a provider of business, technology and information solutions directed toward both the financial and clinical aspects of healthcare delivery.