A Medical Device Daily

Market Street Medical, a subsidiary of private equity firm Market Street Finance, has acquired iCare Medical Supply (Jupiter, Florida) and affiliated companies, including iCare Pharmacy (Winter Park, Florida).

iCare Medical Supply is a national provider of diabetic supplies. iCare Pharmacy provides respiratory medications to patients suffering from a variety of respiratory diseases.

The deal represents a platform acquisition for Market Street Financial and further aligns Market Street Medical with its goal of investing in high-growth companies.

Market Street Medical is a holding company formed to bring the five iCare companies under a single operating entity. It is co-owned by the new equity partners, the existing owners and the lenders.

Market Street Medical will continue to operate the companies under the iCare brand and will seek to add both patients and new products that are well suited to the “direct to patient“ model of distribution.

Chris Baker, co-CEO of the new company, said, “In its relatively short history, iCare has benefited greatly by creating a culture of customer and patient satisfaction coupled with an exceptional workplace environment. We feel this incredible base of existing patients and loyal employees provide us with a solid foundation for the future growth of iCare.“

Buddy Tatum, iCare president, said, “In evaluating potential investors, we concluded that Market Street Medical was best positioned to support [our] vision of national expansion and revenue growth. This partnership will give iCare the capital needed for continued development and will significantly increase [its] revenue and earnings.“

Provident Healthcare Partners acted as the financial advisor for iCare in the transaction.

Market Street Finance is a private equity firm primarily engaged in structuring finance for high-growth companies and financing acquisitions. It also seeks to acquire majority equity positions in companies that have significant growth opportunities requiring flexible capital, and performing leveraged recapitalizations allowing existing owners to experience liquidity events while retaining the opportunity to participate in a company's future.

The Viasys MedSystems business unit of Viasys Healthcare (Conshohocken, Pennsylvania), a provider of enteral feeding devices, reported acquiring substantially all of the assets of Navion Biomedical (Stoughton, Massachusetts), manufacturer of the Navigator Bionavigation system.

The Navigator system is designed to facilitate the correct placement of peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) and central venous catheters. More than 1.2 million PICC lines are inserted in the U.S. annually.

“Since PICCs are currently placed without the assistance of a guiding device, their placement must be verified by X-ray,“ said Tom Kuhn, president of Viasys MedSystems. “PICC lines frequently need to be repositioned before proceeding with the administration of the drug or nutrition therapy. Repositioning and the additional confirmatory X-rays add significant cost to patient care and increase the time the patient is without the therapy. The Navigator system permits bedside determination of the position and direction of the catheter tip and eliminates the need for repositioning and additional confirmatory X-rays.“

Viasys' business is conducted through its Respiratory Care, NeuroCare, MedSystems and Orthopedics business units.

Symmetry completes facility expansions

Symmetry Medical (Warsaw, Indiana), an independent provider of products to orthopedic device manufacturers, reported the completion of major facility expansions including two existing facilities and the development of two new facilities.

The total cost of the expansions and development was $8.5 million, all of which has been previously financed.

The projects included the addition of 9,000 square feet to Symmetry's Avilla, Indiana, trauma and spine instrument and implant facility and the addition of 22,000 square feet of space to the company's Sheffield, UK facility for the production of knee, hip and shoulder implants.