A Medical Device Daily

Orion HealthCorp reported that, as part of a strategic plan, it has agreed to sell its subsidiary, IntegriMED (both Atlanta), to the principals of eClinicalWorks (Houston), a provider of ambulatory electronic medical records and practice management systems for multi-location, multi-specialty medical practices. IntegriMED provides business, clinical and technology solutions for physicians through an application service provider model.

Terms of the transaction, expected to close in the second quarter, were not disclosed.

Terrence Bauer, CEO of Orion, said that the sale of Integri-MED “places this subsidiary and its employees in a position to capitalize on the momentum created in the market by eClinicalWorks, coupled with the ever-increasing demand for web-based technology solutions for physicians.”

He added that it also would enable Orion to focus on core competencies: “serving the ambulatory surgery center market; providing business and management services to physician clinics; and providing physician billing and collection services to hospital-based physicians.”

Orion, the result of a combination of four different operating companies, provides services to physicians through three business units: SurgiCare, serving the freestanding ambulatory surgery center market; Integrated Physician Solutions, providing business and management services to physician practices; and Medical Billing Services, providing billing, collection and practice management solutions to hospital-based physicians. It says its core competency of the company is its long-term experience and success in working with and creating value for physicians.

ResMed (San Diego) reported completing the purchase of Saime SA (Temple, France), the deal unveiled earlier this month (Medical Device Daily, May 9, 2005). ResMed said it acquired Financiere ACE SAS, the holding company for Saime and its affiliates, for about EUR 85 million, funding the transaction with cash reserves and a five-year secured loan of EUR 50 million from HSBC Bank.

Saime, with annual revenues of around EUR 28 million, develops homecare ventilation products for the French and German markets. ResMed bought its original French sleep therapy distribution assets in 1996 from the Saime group.

ResMed manufactures equipment to treat sleep-disordered breathing and other respiratory disorders.

In other dealmaking:

Gryphon Investors (San Francisco) reported selling a majority interest in Bright Now! Dental (Santa Ana, California), one of its portfolio companies, to equity firm Freeman Spogli (Los Angeles/New York). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Gryphon acquired Bright Now! Dental in 1998 and said it will continue as a minority investor.

David Andrews, managing partner and president of Gryphon, said, “Bright Now! has been a terrific investment for Gryphon and one where we overcame a number of initial challenges shared by other private equity firms that entered the industry during the same period. Working closely with management, we made two very significant investments with the acquisitions of Monarch Dental in 2003 and Castle Dental in 2004, smoothly integrated into the operations [and]. . . solidifying Bright Now!”

Dentists affiliated with Bright Now! provide general, specialty and cosmetic care to more than 2.5 million patients annually through 300 offices in 19 states.

UBS Investment Bank and Latham & Watkins advised Bright Now! in the transaction.

Gryphon says that it “typically seeks to invest $25 million to $75 million of [our] own capital in companies and prioritizes investment opportunities where it can form proactive partnerships with owners and executives to build leading companies.”