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Healthcare Market Transactions
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Healthcare Industry Transactions Completed
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The following transactions are provided as a matter of public record and compiled to provide an overview of the Market Pulse™ of recent acquisition and merger activities within the healthcare industry.
Recent Healthcare Transactions 2012
Covidien (Mansfield, MA) acquired Reverse Medical Corporation's (Irvine, CA) line of neurovascular guide catheters. Reverse Medical will retain possession of its thrombectomy technologies and products and will continue its development of new technologies for the treatment of neurovascular disorders, including both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ATG Rehab acquires Rocky Mountain Medical Equipment - ATG Rehab, a complex rehabilitation equipment provider of wheelchairs and mobility equipment, announced last week that it has acquired the complex rehabilitation technology business segment of Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Medical Equipment (RMME). RMME has been a provider of complex rehabilitation technology, prosthetics, orthotics, wound care, bathroom safety and electrotherapy for more than 19 years. RMME’s 3,100 mobility customers will be transitioned to ATG Rehab, and RMME will continue to offer its other services from its Denver location. Drive Medical buys Mountway Holdings - Drive Medical announced last week that it has bought Mountway Holdings, a U.K.-based manufacturer and distributor of bathlifts and independent living aids. "The combination of their innovative design-led philosophy and high value-added products will accelerate Drive's growth in the bath and independent aid product categories in the U.K. market," stated Drive Medical Chairman and CEO Harvey Diamond in a release. It's the third acquisition for Drive in four months. In October, it announced it bought Inovo/Chad Therapeutics and ActiveCare Medical. Mountway is known for its Neptune, Aquila and Splash rigid bathlifts; the Serena pillow lift; and the Solo patient toilet lift. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Mentor Capital, Inc. (OTC Markets: MNTR) announced that it has executed a long-term funding agreement to receive a current 50% ownership in Brighter Day Health, LLC, pending their expected shareholder approval. Brighter Day provides face-to-face doctor interaction through secure computer video set-ups for ultra-economic health care delivery at nursing homes and similar treatment facilities. Mentor Capital is to provide $5.0 Million in future growth funding for Brighter Day Health to continue its multi-state expansion plan. Positron Corp acquires Manhattan Isotope Technology - Positron Corp (Fishers, IN) acquired all of the assets, business operations and retained all employees of Manhattan Isotope Technology LLC (MIT) (Los Alamos, NM). MIT will receive cash advances, assumption of certain indebtedness and earn-out consideration of $3.5 million based on 20 percent of the net income from sales relating to radioisotope and radiopharmaceutical operations of MIT. Positron Corp is a molecular imaging company specializing in the field of nuclear cardiology. The Linde Group has signed an agreement for the acquisition of the Continental-European homecare business of the industrial gases company Air Products at an enterprise value of EUR 590 m. This business achieved annual sales of EUR 210 m in 2011. The transaction comprises Air Products' homecare operations in Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain with around 850 employees. "Healthcare is one of our three strategic growth pillars. It has proven to be a stable business and builds on the mega-trend of changing demographics," said Professor Dr Wolfgang Reitzle, Chief Executive Officer of Linde AG. "With this transaction we are expanding our competencies and scaling-up our product and service offering, delivering quality care to around 260,000 additional patients. This puts us in a very good position to continue to drive innovation and develop new services. The acquisition will improve our position in a structural growth market and will make us one of the market leaders in the European respiratory homecare business." Homecare is the term applied to medical services relating to the treatment of patients in settings other than hospitals. It comprises respiratory services such as oxygen therapy, sleep therapy, and ventilation services. In the 2010 financial year, Linde achieved global sales of around EUR 280 m in this product area. In the Healthcare segment as a whole, which comprises not only Homecare but also Hospital Care (the supply of medical gases and services to hospitals), Linde achieved sales in the 2010 financial year of EUR 1.1 bn. Linde is the second largest supplier of medical gases and related services in the world. Siemens Healthcare (Malvern, PA) acquired MobileMD (Yardley, PA) in late 2011. MobileMD's technology is used by more than 110 hospitals and more than 2,000 physician practices, and enables connectivity regardless of location, affiliation or EMR technology. Details about the agreement were not disclosed. Sanomedics to make second buy in DME industry - MIAMI - Sanomedics has its eyes on a second durable medical equipment provider that specializes in sleep treatment devices and services. The company, which manufactures and distributes baby and pet thermometers, has announced that it has signed a letter of intent to acquire a growing East Coast provider with revenue of more than $2 million. In December, Sanomedics announced that it had signed a letter of intent to acquire a DME provider on the West Coast that specializes in sleep. GMEA acquires Allen Medical - PHOENIX - Global Medical Equipment of America (GMEA) announced last week that it has acquired Allen Medical Supply in Opelousas, La. Allen Medical Supply offers durable medical and respiratory equipment, power wheelchairs and orthotics. It's the third acquisition in as many months for GMEA. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Zimmer Holdings Inc (Warsaw, IN) acquired Synvasive Technology Inc (Reno, NV). The deal enhances Zimmer's product portfolio with the addition of Synvasive's STABLECUT surgical saw blades, and the eLIBRA Dynamic Knee Balancing System™ for soft tissue balancing. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Baird Capital Partners (BCP) announced that portfolio company MedData, Inc. has acquired Grand Rapids, MI –based MedDirect, which provides revenue cycle management services and advanced personalized patient communications to healthcare organizations. MedDirect works with its national base of clients to increase patient pay reimbursements, enhance the patient pre- and post-clinical experience, and transform patients into well-informed and loyal customers of their respective providers. Universal American Corp. (NYSE: UAM) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire APS Healthcare, Inc. ("APS Healthcare”), a leading provider of specialty healthcare solutions for $227.5 million. The transaction significantly enhances Universal American’s breadth of capabilities to participate in the emerging growth opportunities in healthcare, including the large dual eligible opportunity. APS Healthcare brings a full range of healthcare solutions, including disease management and care coordination, clinical quality and utilization review, and behavioral health services, that enable its customers to reduce healthcare costs and improve the quality of their care. APS Healthcare’s 400 customers include Medicaid Agencies, state and local governments, health plans, employers and labor trust groups and it serves approximately 30 government programs in 25 states and Puerto Rico covering over 17 million members, making it one of the largest specialty healthcare services companies in the country. APS Healthcare is headquartered in White Plains, NY with 2011 revenues of more than $300 million. APS Healthcare is currently owned by funds affiliated with GTCR LLC, a leading private equity firm. The purchase price for the transaction is (i) $227.5 million, consisting of $147.5 million in cash to retire APS Healthcare’s outstanding indebtedness and other liabilities, and $80 million in Universal American common stock, plus (ii) up to $50 million in potential performance based consideration, payable in cash in March 2014 to the extent APS Healthcare’s financial results exceed certain thresholds. Universal American expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in 2012. The transaction, which is expected to close within sixty days, is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”) announced that its portfolio company, Adreima (the “Company”), has acquired Accounts Receivable Management and Data Services, Inc. (“ARMDS”), the leading provider of Medicaid and Charity Care eligibility services in the state of New Jersey. Health Net Inc (Woodland Hills, CA) entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Medicare stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (Medicare PDP) business to a subsidiary of CVS Caremark Corp (Woonsocket, RI) for approximately $160 million in cash. The Medicare PDP has annualized revenue of approximately $490 million and serves 400,000 members in the U.S. If approved by CMS (Baltimore, MD) and other regulatory agencies, the transaction is expected to close in Q2 2012. Prospect Medical Holdings (Santa Ana, CA) inked an agreement to acquire Nix Health Care System (San Antonio, TX) from Merit Health Systems LLC (Louisville, KY). Nix Health CEO John Strieby will serve as its chairman, president and CEO under Prospect's ownership. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Bristol-Myers Squibb said it signed a definite agreement to acquire Inhibitex, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based biopharmaceutical company developing products to treat chronic hepatitis C, shingles and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus infections, for $2.5 billion. C. R. Bard, Inc. (NYSE: BCR) today announced that it has acquired Lutonix, Inc. for a purchase price of approximately $225 million paid at closing, with an additional $100 million to be paid upon PMA approval of Lutonix’s drug-coated percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon. The transaction is structured as a merger. Memorial Health System has inked a deal to buy Abilene Family Physicians PA for $475,000 and acquisition of equipment and furnishings for $106,845, plus the purchase of accounts receivable, office supplies, medical supplies and injectibles at their fair market value. The deal was approved by the board members. Symmetry Medical Inc (Warsaw, IN) completed its acquisition of the surgical instruments business of Codman & Shurtleff Inc (Raynham, MA), a Johnson & Johnson Inc (New Brunswick, NJ) company. Beginning Q1 2012, Symmetry will integrate Codman's line of surgical instruments with its current hospital direct business, Specialty Surgical Instrumentation (SSi). The combined hospital direct general surgical instruments business will be re-named Symmetry Surgical and is expected to have more than $100 million in annual sales. Ascension Health (St. Louis, MO) completed its previously announced acquisition of Alexian Brothers Health System (Arlington Heights, IL), for undisclosed terms, on January 1, 2012. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approved the deal and the final agreement was signed in third week of December 2011. Ascension is the nation’s largest Catholic health system, with $15 billion in annual revenue. Alexian is a Catholic healthcare system with nearly $1 billion in annual revenue. The agreement includes Alexian's two acute care hospitals and two specialty facilities in Chicago, plus senior care facilities in St. Louis, Milwaukee and Chattanooga, TN. Despite Ascension's headquarters location in St. Louis, Alexian Brothers Landsdowne Village (St. Louis, MO) and Alexian Brothers Sherbrooke Village (St. Louis, MO) will be its first St. Louis-area facilities. The Clorox Company (Kissimmee, FL) acquired Aplicare Inc (Meriden, CT) and HealthLink (Jacksonville, FL), two providers of infection control products for the healthcare industry. Aplicare specializes in developing and manufacturing different forms of products for helping prevent skin infection from needles or surgery, and HealthLink bundles a wide assortment of products, including AloeGuard antimicrobial hand soap, for use by individual physicians, doctors' offices, outpatient care centers and other healthcare facilities. The combined purchase price for both transactions was in the range of $80 million to $90 million, subject to post-closing adjustments, and was funded through cash and commercial paper borrowing. Aplicare and HealthLink together represent more than one percent of Clorox Company's annual sales on an ongoing basis, and the deal will be slightly dilutive to diluted earnings per share in FY 2012. Transition Healthcare Company LLC (Franklin, TN) sold MetroSouth Medical Center (Blue Island, IL) to Community Health Systems (CHS) (Franklin, TN) for $40 million after making a net investment of about $23 million four years ago. At the time of purchase, the hospital reduced its beds to 330 from 410. MetroSouth has 1,200 employees and is the area's largest employer. It is unknown whether the hospital is profitable at this time. The sale is scheduled to close in Q1 2012. MHA LLC (Florham Park, NJ) reached an agreement in principal with Extendicare Health Services (EHS) (Milwaukee, WI) under which MHA's subsidiary, Navigator Group Purchasing Inc (Nashville, TN), will acquire UHF Purchasing Services (Milwaukee, WI) and Star Purchasing Services (Milwaukee, WI) from EHS. The acquisition is MHA's third and largest GPO acquisition in the LTC market within the last 12 months, and the transaction is expected to position Navigator as the largest GPO serving the LTC market in the U.S. The transaction is set to close in early 2012. Halcyon Healthcare, a portfolio company of Health Evolution Partners ("HEP"), announced today the completion of two hospice acquisitions in central and northern Georgia. The acquired companies, Compassionate Hospice and Altus Healthcare & Hospice, mark the first two transactions for Halcyon. Halcyon was formed in 2010 by HEP, Dan Kohl and Jack Draughon to build a leading hospice and home health company in the Southeastern U.S. Home Care by Black Stone has acquired Caring Hearts Home Health Care, which was the largest minority-owned home care provider in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. PinnacleHealth System will merge its home health care services with an entity operated by Lancaster General Hospital and Reading Hospital. PinnacleHealth Home Care will continue to operate under that name but will be managed by VNA Community Care Services, the Lancaster General-Reading entity, Pinnacle said in a written statement. About 80 of its 110 employees have accepted jobs with VNA, Pinnacle spokesman Gray Onobrakpeya said. The Pinnacle statement said other employees will be offered jobs within Pinnacle or will receive help finding work outside Pinnacle. Onobrakpeya said no other details about employees were available late Wednesday. Baxter International Inc (Deerfield, IL) plans to acquire Synovis Life Technologies Inc (St. Paul, MN), a manufacturer of implantable products for soft-tissue repair in surgical procedures. Under the agreement, Baxter will pay $28 per share for Synovis, which totals $325 million in equity value or about $260 million after adjusting for net cash. Synovis had approximately $70 million in sales 2010. The deal is expected to close in Q1 2012. The acquisition is expected to reduce Baxter's 2012 earnings by $0.04 per share due to accounting for the deal and transaction costs, but will be accretive to earnings beginning in 2014.
2011
§ Covidien (Mansfield, MA) signed a definitive agreement to acquire BARRX Medical Inc (Sunnyvale, CA), which develops endoscopic treatment solutions for Barrett's esophagus and other gastroenterological diseases such as esophageal squamous cell neoplasia, bleeding associated with radiation proctopathy, and bleeding associated with gastric antral vascular ectasia. Covidien will acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of BARRX, a private company, for approximately $325 million, with additional future earn out payments possible upon achievement of company milestones § Drive Medical has acquired ActiveCare Medical Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of power wheelchairs and mobility scooters, according to an Oct. 28 announcement. Drive Medical also recently acquired Inovo/CHAD Therapeutics, a leading manufacturer of oxygen conserving devices, regulators and other respiratory products. ActiveCare has principal operations in South Carolina, and its broad category of power products include the Medalist, a rear-wheel-drive power wheelchair; the Prowler, a large heavy-duty capacity power scooter; the Cobalt X23, a lightweight, easily transportable power chair; and the Spitfire 1420 EX, a portable scooter. On Oct. 11, Drive announced that it had acquired Inovo/CHAD Therapeutics of Naples, Fla., a sign that the Port Washington, N.Y., company was making a significant expansion into the respiratory market. § Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to acquire Pharmasset Inc. for nearly $11 billion, placing a big bet on the growing market for new treatments for hepatitis C infections. Gilead, which is known mainly for its blockbuster treatments for the AIDS virus, agreed to pay $137 per Pharmasset share, a nearly 89% premium to Pharmasset's closing price Friday and an impressive return for a stock that traded below $10 as recently as January 2010. Pharmasset shares soared 85% at $134.17 in early trading Monday, while Gilead's shares dropped 11% at $35.67. The pricey deal underscores the fierce competition among buyers and investors for high quality growig healthcare businesses. § Jordan Health Services and CIMA Hospice Announce Combination Jordan, a Texas provider of home health services, will combine with CIMA which provides hospice services in four locations in Southwest Texas. Palladium Equity Partners and F&M Bank and Trust Company will finance the transaction § Vista Equity Partners (San Francisco, CA) completed its acquisition of Sage Group PLC's healthcare business, Sage Healthcare Division (Tampa, FL). The new company will be called Vitera Healthcare Solutions (Vitera) and will continue to serve the ambulatory market with its current line of electronic health records (EHR), practice management and revenue cycle management products. As part of the closing deal, Betty Otter-Nickerson, former president of Sage Healthcare Division, will transition her leadership responsibilities to the newly appointed CEO of Vitera, Matthew Hawkins. Otter-Nickerson will remain until the end of the year. § HMS Holdings Corp. last week announced an agreement to acquire privately held HealthDataInsights, Inc. for about $400 million. The transaction is expected to close by Dec. 31, subject to regulatory approvals. HDI is the exclusive Medicare Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) in 17 states and three U.S. territories in CMS Region D, the Western U.S., covering about 22 percent of the nation’s Medicare claims. § Vista Equity Partners (San Francisco, CA) completed its acquisition of Sage Group PLC's healthcare business, Sage Healthcare Division (Tampa, FL). The new company will be called Vitera Healthcare Solutions (Vitera) and will continue to serve the ambulatory market with its current line of electronic health records (EHR), practice management and revenue cycle management products. As part of the closing deal, Betty Otter-Nickerson, former president of Sage Healthcare Division, will transition her leadership responsibilities to the newly appointed CEO of Vitera, Matthew Hawkins. Otter-Nickerson will remain until the end of the year. § Zimmer Holdings Inc (Warsaw, IN) acquired ExtraOrtho Inc (Memphis, TN), including its external fixation line, XtraFix External Fixation System. The acquisition further enhances Zimmer's position in the growing external bone fixation market. Details of the deal were not disclosed. § Sentinel Capital Partners adds WellSpring Pharmaceutical Corporation, a North American manufacturer and marketer of specialty prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, to its collection. Sentinel teamed up with Ancor Capital Partners, an independent sponsor with extensive healthcare expertise, on the deal. Terms of the deal were undisclosed. § Siemens Healthcare (Malvern, PA) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding equity of MobileMD Inc (Yardley, PA), a provider of health information exchange (HIE) solutions. The transaction is not subject to any regulatory clearances and is expected to close promptly. MobileMD's cloud-deployed HIE service liberates patient information across a community of providers, regardless of geographic, organizational, or health IT system boundaries. The HIE solution is in use by more than 110 hospitals and more than 2,000 physician practices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § PerkinElmer Inc (Waltham, MA) completed its acquisition of Caliper Life Sciences Inc (Hopkinton, MA) for approximately $600 million in cash. Kevin Hrusovsky, CEO of Caliper Life Sciences, was named president of life sciences and technology at PerkinElmer, the business unit that houses the company’s existing research business and Caliper Life Sciences operations § RegionalCare Hospital Partners (Brentwood, TN) merged with Essent Healthcare (Nashville, TN) in November 2011. The merged organization, operating under the name RegionalCare Hospital Partners, owns and operates seven hospitals in six states, including Texas, Alabama, Connecticut, Ohio, Iowa and Pennsylvania. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, RegionalCare will continue the campus consolidation plans underway in Paris, Tennessee; continue to recruit and retain physicians; and make needed capital investments at the individual hospitals. It also intends to retain all Essent employees and management teams. Martin Rash will continue to serve as RegionalCare’s Chairman and CEO. RegionalCare is a Warburg Pincus LLC (New York, NY) company. Essent Healthcare is a company of Vestar Capital Partners (New York, NY) and Cressey & Company (Chicago, IL). § HMS Holdings Corp., a New York-based benefits coordinator for payers, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held HealthDataInsights, Las Vegas, a recovery audit contractor technology firm, for approximately $400 million. The deal calls for HDI to become a wholly owned subsidiary of HMS Holdings Corp. and for HDI founder, President and CEO Andrea Benko to continue in her current roles. HDI employs about a total of 400 people at the company's headquarters in Las Vegas and in facilities in California and Florida. The deal will consist of $384 million in cash paid at closing and approximately $16 million in the assumption of unvested stock options, according to a news release. The assumed options will be adjusted as to exercise price and number of shares to convert them into options for HMS stock. HMS also plans to establish a $100 million bank revolving credit facility in connection with the deal. Using HMS' revenue recognition methodology, HDI is projected to add about $85 million of revenue to HMS in 2012, according to the release. § Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc (Cincinnati, OH) completed its acquisition of privately-held SterilMed Inc (Maple Grove, MN), which offers products and services including medical device reprocessing, equipment repair, and pre-owned equipment sales that help healthcare providers lower their medical device and equipment costs, while reducing the amount of environmental waste they generate. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. SterilMed will continue to operate as a standalone company, and announced the appointment of Mike Gustafson as president to succeed Brian Sullivan, who intends to retire from the company following a transition period. § Shareholders in investment firm Blackstone Capital Partners (New York, NY) voted to finalize the company’s $3 billion purchase of Emdeon (Nashville, TN), a healthcare payment and revenue cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions provider. Blackstone is acquiring a controlling interest in Emdeon, and Hellman & Friedman will maintain a significant equity interest in Emdeon. § MMS - A Medical Supply Company (Earth City, MO) completed its acquisition of Richmark Medical Supply Company (West Chicago, IL). The company will now operate under Richmark Medical, a division of Midwest Medical Supply.Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal will allow MMS to strengthen its presence and expand its service capabilities in the Greater Chicago market. § Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”), a Chicago based middle-market private equity firm, today announced that Acadia Healthcare Company, Inc. (“Acadia” or the “Company”), majority owned by WCP, has completed its merger with PHC, Inc., d/b/a Pioneer Behavioral Health (AMEX:PHC). As a result of the transaction, Acadia is the country’s leading publicly traded pure-play provider of inpatient behavioral health care services, based upon licensed beds. The Company operates 34 facilities, with approximately 1,950 licensed beds in 18 states, which would have produced annual revenues of more than $325 million on a pro forma basis for the twelve months ending June 30, 2011. § Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc. (NYSE: SKH) today announced the acquisition of Cornerstone Hospice, a leading hospice company serving the Phoenix, Arizona and Riverside, California markets. Cornerstone Hospice's two agencies, which are located in Phoenix and in Colton, California, generally serve areas of their metropolitan markets that are not served by the Company's existing hospice businesses. The Company expects the acquisition to be slightly accretive in 2011. § Kindred Healthcare, Inc. announced that its subsidiary has acquired the assets of Synergy Home Health Care, Inc. ("Synergy"), a provider of home health services. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Company used its operating cash flows and proceeds from its revolving credit facility to finance the transaction. Kindred did not assume any liabilities or debt of Synergy in the transaction. Synergy is a home health company serving the greater Boston, Massachusetts market, with two locations in Marlborough and Weymouth, Massachusetts, that currently generate annualized revenues of approximately $5 million. Kindred currently operates 25 nursing and rehabilitation centers and five long-term acute care hospitals within Synergy's service areas. Kindred's Peoplefirst HomeCare and Hospice currently provides hospice services in Massachusetts as well as home health and hospice services in Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Nevada, Ohio and Utah. § Aprima Medical Software, a Carrollton, Texas-based provider of practice management and electronic health-record software, announced that it has acquired Health Care Strategies, a Richardson, Texas-based revenue-cycle management services provider for physicians. No terms were disclosed. Both companies are in suburbs of Dallas. According to the Health Care Strategies' website, the companies entered into a formal business alliance in August 2006. Aprima was founded in 1998 as iMedica Corp., but changed its name in 2009. § The state of New Jersey approved the sale of Hoboken University Medical Center (Hoboken, NJ) for $10.2 million to HUMC Holdco (Hoboken, NJ), a for-profit company that also operates Bayonne Medical Center (Bayonne, NJ). Under the terms of the sale, Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority (Hoboken, NJ), the agency that controls the hospital, will pay off the hospital's debt to creditors, who are owed more than $34 million, and invest $20 million in improvements. The interest on the bond, $11 million, will be covered by an earmark in the state budget. § Cigna agreed on Monday to buy HealthSpring for about $3.7 billion in cash, in a bid to add Medicare and senior care coverage. Under the terms of the deal, Cigna will pay $55 a share, a 37 percent premium to HealthSpring’s Friday closing price. The deal is the latest seeking to take advantage of an expected growth in Medicare and insurance of seniors, an area where Cigna does not have a significant presence. § HCA Holdings Inc (Nashville, TN) completed its agreement to buy out Colorado Health Foundation's (Denver, CO) 40 percent interest in HealthONE (Denver, CO) for $1.45 billion. HealthONE, which is the largest healthcare system in the metro Denver area with 8,700 employees and 3,000 affiliated physicians, has seven hospitals and 13 ambulatory surgery centers as well as more than 30 occupational medicine/rehabilitation, specialty, and outpatient diagnostic imaging clinics; and AirLife Denver, which provides critical care air and ground transportation for an eight-state region. HCA will establish an independent advisory board and continue indigent care and graduate medical education programs in accordance with the original terms of the deal. § Neoprobe Corp (Dublin, OH) completed the sale of its handheld gamma radiation detector business to Devicor Medical Products Inc (Cincinnati, OH) for $30 million plus $20 million in pledged royalties. The product was Neoprobe’s chief source of revenue. The sale allows Neoprobe to focus on the development of radioactive diagnostic drugs. § GE Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) signed an agreement to acquire PAA Laboratories (Pasching, Austria), a developer and supplier of cell culture media for biomedical research and the biopharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing industry. The acquisition will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of products and services for cell biology research and for the discovery and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals including recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines. Terms of the agreement, which is expected to close by Q4 2011, were not disclosed.
§ BD
(Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical
technology company, today announced the completion of its acquisition of
Carmel Pharma, AB, a Swedish company that manufactures the PhaSeal(r)
System, the leading closed-system drug transfer device for the safe handling
of hazardous drugs that are packaged in vials. The acquisition expands the
scope of BD's healthcare worker safety emphasis to § GE Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) signed an agreement to acquire PAA Laboratories (Pasching, Austria), a developer and supplier of cell culture media for biomedical research and the biopharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing industry. The acquisition will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of products and services for cell biology research and for the discovery and manufacture of biopharmaceuticals including recombinant proteins, antibodies and vaccines. Terms of the agreement, which is expected to close by Q4 2011, were not disclosed. § KPS Capital Partners has agreed to sell Attends Healthcare to the NYSE-listed Domtar Corporation for $315 million in cash. The deal is expected to close within the third quarter. It was reported that KPS made a 15x return on the deal and an initial return rate of 120 percent. The firm initially created the business in January 2007 using capital commitments from its KPS II fund. During that time Attends acquired PaperPak Products from Attends Healthcare Investments Ltd. While under the ownership of KPS, Attends managed to complete two recapitalizations. March of last year it raked in $98 million to refinance its outstanding debt and distributed $60 million to its stockholders. The second time around, Attends pulled in $133 million. It used the recap to refinance outstanding debt and its stockholders received $35 million. Attends, which has close to 300 employees, produces and distributes a line of adult incontinence products which are marketed throughout North America. Its primary brand name, Attends, is available through the non-retail sectors within the acute care, long-term care and the home healthcare industry. § Brucker Corporation (Billerica, MA), a global manufacturer of scientific instruments, closed its acquisition of Center for Tribology Inc (CETR) (Campbell, CA), a provider of testing and consulting services to high-tech companies, for $13 million in cash as an initial purchase price. The deal also offers the potential for additional earn-out payments of up to $4 million in cash, depending on growth and profitability of the CETR-business within Bruker in 2012 and 2013. CETR is now part of the Bruker Nano Surfaces division, joining the current AFM (atomic force microscope) and SOM (stylus and optical metrology) businesses. Dr Norm Gitis, founder and CEO of CETR, will serve as VP and general manager of the new Bruker Tribology & Mechanical Testing (TMT) business. § SpecialtyCare, a Nashville-based provider of clinical services to surgeons and hospitals, has acquired Surgical Monitoring Associates, Inc. (SMA) and Remote Neuromonitoring Physicians (RNP), Springfield, Pa. SMA has provided intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring since 1986. The purchase of SMA and RNP, both Philadelphia-based companies, was completed October 1, 2011, just one month after SpecialtyCare purchased Advanced Diagnostics Inc., a longstanding Northern California neuromonitoring group. § AeroScout® (San Mateo, CA), a provider of Unified Asset Visibility solutions for the healthcare industry, acquired Sentient Health (Redwood City, CA), a provider of software and services to hospitals for optimizing inventory management of consumable medical supplies. According to a report by the standards organization GS1 UK, the top two technologies identified by nurses to help them improve efficiency and patient safety were: 1.) technologies that provide real-time views of stock levels (63 percent); and 2.) technologies for tracking the location of equipment electronically (56 percent). AeroScout, through its acquisition of Sentient Health, is a leader in both of these areas with AeroScout's Asset Tracking and Management solution and Sentient Health's MedTrac solution for supply chain visibility. Hospitals use Sentient Health's MedTrac software to automate supply chain management of consumable medical supplies, such as stents, syringes and gloves, which is a complex and time-consuming manual process. MedTrac enables healthcare providers to manage their inventories and automate procurement, increasing efficiency while reducing operating costs and saving staff time. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. § NationsHealth acquired Care 1st Medical Solutions. The five-year-old Care 1st offered mail-order diabetes testing supplies to about 13,000 Medicare beneficiaries. Care 1st CEO Mike Eberly confirmed the deal and blamed competitive bidding. NationsHealth, which won several mail-order contracts in Round 1, billed Medicare more than $13 million for test strips. § Peninsula Hospital in southeast Queens, NYC announced that it had reached a deal for Revival Home Health Care to acquire the financially ailing hospital center. Todd Miller, chief restructuring officer for Revival, said the group was "very proud to be able to step in and save Peninsula Hospital Center for Rockaway community." Revival is a for profit agency that largely serves New York's Orthodox Jewish community. Pending final NYS Department of health approval, Peninsula's Board of Directors have agreed to allow Revival to take over the day to day operations effective immediately. Peninsula Hospital Center will be removed from ambulance diversion as of Friday. Area ambulances had been diverted to other hospitals since August 22. State Health officials had ordered Peninsula to stop taking new patients and prepare a transfer-or-discharge plan for its patients after its parent network, Medisys Health, withdrew support for the struggling 200 bed facility. § Greater Regional Medical Center’s board of trustees voted unanimously to merge with Iowa Home Health and Hospice effective Jan. 1, 2012. GRMC executives said, over the past two to three years, they’ve explored home health care and hospice partners in order to better meet changing regulatory demands and reimbursement challenges. And, after careful review, GRMC approved the merger largely because Iowa Health shares GRMC vision and values to place full emphasis on patient-centered care. § Kindred Healthcare agreed to acquire home health company, Professional HealthCare for $51 million. The acquisition will add 27 more home care, hospice and private duty locations to Kindred's service area. § Getinge Group (STO:GETIB) and its subsidiary, Maquet Cardiovascular, a global provider of cardiovascular technologies, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atrium Medical Corporation for $680 million. Atrium provides medical device technologies for interventional cardiology and radiology, chest trauma care and thoracic drainage, vascular surgery, and general surgery. Atrium will operate as an independent, self-contained business unit of MAQUET Cardiovascular and will be led by current Atrium president, Trevor Carlton. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2011, subject to U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approval. Atrium's vast expertise in medical device technologies for the treatment of coronary and vascular disease, chest trauma, hernia and soft tissue injury has brought a number of breakthrough advances in several diversified healthcare markets including interventional cardiology and radiology, chest trauma care and thoracic drainage, vascular surgery, and general surgery. Founded in since 1838, MAQUET is a global leader in medical systems that advance surgical interventions, cardiovascular procedures and critical care. MAQUET develops and designs innovative products and therapeutic applications for the operating room, hybrid OR/cath lab, intensive care unit and patient transport within acute care hospitals, improving outcomes and quality of life for patients. GETINGE GROUP is a leading global provider of products and systems that contribute to quality enhancement and cost efficiency within healthcare and life sciences. GETINGE GROUP operates under the three brands of ArjoHuntleigh, GETINGE and MAQUET. ArjoHuntleigh focuses on patient mobility and wound management solutions. GETINGE provides solutions for infection control within healthcare and contamination prevention within life sciences. § Brightree, a provider of a suite of SaaS solutions that automates and organizes multiple critical business functions for healthcare providers and practitioners was recapitalized by Battery Ventures. The Company's management team had grown the Company quickly since joining and investing in the Company several years ago. The original founders were ready for a liquidity event while the management team wanted to explore partnerships for continued growth. Brightree was recapitalized with equity financing from Battery Ventures, a nationally-recognized private equity firm that brought capital and expertise in the software industry. C&B Capital also participated in the transaction. § American Hospice, a portfolio company of The Riverside Company, recently announced its acquisition of the Conroe and Livingston, Texas locations of Hospice Care of the Southwest, a leading provider of hospice services in the Houston suburbs. § Clearview Capital announced that it has acquired Child Health Holdings, Inc. from Harbert Private Equity. Headquartered in Tampa, FL Child Health Holdings, d.b.a. Pediatric Health Choice, is the premier provider of alternative-site health care services for medically complex, technology-dependent and behaviorally challenged children. The transaction closed on September 2nd. § CI Capital Partners has acquired the Arlington, Illinois-based health and wellness solutions provider, Interactive Health Solutions (IHS). Although terms of the deal for IHS were undisclosed the firm typically spends between $25 million to $100 million in equity per transaction. IHS, which was established in 1991, works with more than 1,000 fully-insured and self-insured companies. The company develops and offers wellness programs to employer groups that help individuals take responsibility for their health. It offers biometric screening, telephonic health coaching and health compliance program management. CI Capital acquired the company from its founder and handful of owners, including Jim Banks who will remain as a member on the board. Joe O'Brien will continue as the company's CEO. § Kohlberg & Co. LLC-backed Phillips Plastics Corp. is expanding the medical device end of its business. The Hudson, Wisconsin-based portfolio company announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire Medisize Corp. from Swedish private equity conglomerate Ratos AB. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Phillips, which was acquired by Mount Kisco, N.Y.-based Kohlberg on Dec. 10, is known for manufacturing injection molding components for plastic and metal devices used within the consumer, medical, defense and automotive industries. The company has strategic partnerships with Eastek International - forming Chinese tool company WahTsun Far East Ltd. - and Pro-Tek Medical Ltd. This deal is expected to significantly expand Phillips' manufacturing capabilities in Europe thanks to Medisize's presence in Finland - where it's headquartered - and its operations in Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. § Family Equity Partners and Housatonic Partners to complete a deal with HealthWyse, a leading provider of clinical and financial software to home health, hospice and private duty agencies. Founded in 1998, HealthWyse is a leading provider of clinical and financial software solutions for home care, hospice and private duty agencies. The company's fully integrated services and software offerings include a Point of Care (with electronic health record), Clinical Management and Billing solution customized to meet the needs of various agencies.
§ CareSouth Homecare Professionals purchases Florida Palliative Home Care, continuing its growth through acquisition strategy. § Metropolitan Health to Acquire Continucare for $416 Million This deal will expand Metropolitan Health's services to Medicaid and Medicare patients in Florida. § PerkinElmer Inc (Waltham, MA) plans to acquire Caliper Life Sciences Inc (Hopkinton, MA), a manufacturer of molecular imaging and detection technologies for life sciences research and diagnostics, for $600 million. PerkinElmer plans to pay cash, and the deal is expected to close in Q4 2011. Caliper CEO Kevin Hrusovsky is expected to join PerkinElmer's senior leadership team, though a position wasn't specified. § AmerisourceBergen (Chesterbrook, PA) paid $250 million to acquire TheraCom Corp (Bethesda, MD), a subsidiary of CVS Caremark Corp (Woonsocket, RI) that provides consulting, reimbursement services and other support to pharmaceutical and biotechnology drug manufacturers. TheraCom will join Lash Group as part of AmerisourceBergen Consulting Services. TheraCom's annualized revenues are approximately $700 million, mostly from the specialized distribution component of the integrated reimbursement support services for certain unique prescription products. § Sage Group PLC plans to sell its healthcare business, Sage Healthcare Division (Tampa, FL), to private equity firm Visa Equity Partners (Austin, TX) for $320 million in cash. Proceeds of the sale, which is expected to close next month, will be given back to shareholders through a share buy-back program. Sage originally bought the business five years ago for $565 million from Emdeon (Nashville, TN). § Sony Corporation (Tokyo, Japan) announced the acquisition of U.S. start-up firm Micronics Inc (Redmond, WA) to begin the launch of research and development operations in the potentially lucrative market for medical equipment. The 30-employee Micronics develops equipment for molecular diagnostics and monitoring. No financial details were disclosed. § Aesculap Inc (Center Valley, PA) acquired the assets of Aragon Surgical Inc (Palo Alto, CA), which specializes in advanced radio frequency (RF) electrosurgical instruments for tissue fusion and cutting. The deal includes the Caiman® product line of instruments which, according to the company, are the only RF devices on the market with an articulating jaw-technology. The Caiman advanced energy product line complements Aesculap’s extensive line of endoscopic and open surgical instruments. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc (Cincinnati, OH) signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held SterilMed Inc (Maple Grove, MN), which offers products and services including medical device reprocessing, equipment repair, and pre-owned equipment sales that help healthcare providers lower their medical device and equipment costs, while reducing the amount of environmental waste they generate. SterilMed will be managed as part of the Ethicon Endo-Surgery franchise, but will continue to operate as a stand-alone company and retain its name. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Cahaba Media Group (CMG), headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, has acquired HomeCare magazine, homecaremag.com, and the HomeCare Monday e-newsletter from Penton Media as of September 20, 2011. Terms were not disclosed. § Varian Medical Systems, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based medical-device and software manufacturer, has signed an agreement to acquire Calypso Medical Technologies for $10 million. The deal, announced Tuesday, also allows for additional payments based on unit sales of Calypso's products over the next two-and-a-half years, according to a Varian Medical news release. Seattle-based Calypso is privately owned. It develops products and software that are used for real-time tumor tracking and motion management during radiosurgery and radiotherapy. According to the release, Calypso's products complement Varian's motion management technology, which is also used in radiosurgery. Calypso's operations are expected to be integrated into Varian's oncology systems business unit but will continue to be based in Seattle. § Clinical services provider SpecialtyCare, Nashville, has acquired fellow clinical outsourcing company Active Diagnostics, Fair Oaks, Calif. Terms of the deal were undisclosed in a SpecialtyCare news release. SpecialtyCare, which serves more than 570 hospitals across the U.S. and in Germany, offers surgical and anesthesia support, sterile processing department management and intraoperative neurological monitoring, among other services. In 2010, the company's client roster grew 56.5%. Active Diagnostics specializes in neuromonitoring and serves 35 hospitals in Northern California and Nevada, according to the release. Earlier this year, SpecialtyCare purchased Advanced Perfusion Care of North Carolina. § ImpactRx, a Symphony Technology Group (STG) company and the pioneer in measuring the impact of promotion on physician prescribing behavior, announced today that it has acquired 100% of TargetRx, Inc., a leading provider of insight into the drivers of physician behavior for pharmaceutical companies, in order to combine the highly complementary capabilities of the two companies into a stronger solution offering for customers. The new company will be known as ImpactRx and new ImpactRx President and CEO, Gregory Ellis, will lead the combined company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. § Baird Capital Partners (“BCP”) has completed the sale of BCP IV portfolio company Medical Education Technologies, Inc. (METI) to CAE (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE). Total expected proceeds will generate an estimated 2.5x gross return on investment for BCP IV investors. BCP acquired METI in October of 2008. Based in Sarasota, Fla., METI develops simulators and other learning tools that help educate and train doctors, nurses, first responders and military medics by providing a learning platform that allows students and practitioners to practice without harming real patients. § Medtronic Inc (Minneapolis, MN) acquired Peak Surgical (Palo Alto, CA) and Salient Surgical Technologies Inc (Portsmouth, NH). The total value of the transaction for Peak Surgical was $120 million and Salient Surgical was $525 million; however, Medtronic previously invested in both and held an ownership stake in the companies. The final transaction value came to approximately $105 million for Peak Surgical and $480 million for Salient Surgical. § DaVita Inc. announced Tuesday it’s closed on its purchase of DSI Renal Inc. of Nashville after agreeing to the Federal Trade Commission. Denver-based DaVita Inc. (NYSE: DVA), in February disclosed its plan to purchase DSI Renal for $689 million. But the FTC on Friday said DaVita would have to sell more than two dozen kidney dialysis clinics in order to avoid gaining a monopoly or becoming one of only two providers in 16 markets. DaVita said it will sell 30 clinics — most of which it acquired from DSI Renal — for $91 million. Before the purchase of DSI, DaVita ranked as the second-largest dialysis company with more than 1,600 clinics in 42 states. DSI Renal was No. 5, with 106 clinics in 23 states. DSI Renal has annual revenue of about $360 million. DaVita reported $6.1 billion in revenue last year. § AmerisourceBergen Corp. has closed on a $35 million deal to acquire IntrinsiQ, an oncology software company. IntrinsiQ will operate within ION Solutions, AmerisourceBergen's oncology division, according to an AmerisourceBergen news release. Valley Forge, Pa.-based AmerisourceBergen, a pharmaceutical distributor, consultant and packing company, said the deal would not significantly change its 2011 earnings. IntrinsiQ, based in Burlington, Mass., had treatment data from about 750 oncologists and roughly 20,000 patients in its database as of March, according to the company's website. § KPS Capital Partners has sold its portfolio company Attends Healthcare to Domtar (NYSE: UFS) for $315 million, netting a 15x return on its investment. KPS has owned Attends since 2007 and was legally advised on the sale by Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. Attends provides incontinence care products and washcloths. § Stryker Corporation (Kalamazoo, MI) plans to acquire privately-held Concentric Medical Inc (Mountain View, CA) for $135 million. Concentric Medical is a medical device company focused on the design, development and commercialization of minimally invasive medical devices for use in the neurovasculature. Its sales for the current year are expected to total over $30 million, and the company's products are sold in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The all-cash deal, scheduled to close early in Q4 2011, is expected to be neutral to Stryker's 2011 earnings. § Summit Partners receives FTC approval to take the home nursing company off the Chicago PE firm's hands. Boston-based Summit Partners received early termination under the Hart Scott Rodino period to acquire CareCentrix Holdings Inc., according to the Federal Trade Commission. The deal marks a quick flip for buyout firm Water Street Healthcare Partners LLC, which purchased a 69% stake in East Hartford, Conn.-based CareCentrix just three years ago as part of its acquisition of a controlling stake in the ancillary care benefit management business of Gentiva Health Services. Terms of today’s transaction have not been disclosed but Chicago-based Water Street originally spent $147 million in August 2008 on CareCentrix and Summit usually invests up to $500 million in equity and debt for each of its targets. Water Street, which focuses solely on healthcare acquisitions, was spun off from One Equity Partners in 2005, the private equity arm of JPMorgan. It acquired CareCentrix through its second fund, Water Street Healthcare Partners II LP. CareCentrix, which delivers home nursing and home medical equipment to over 10 million individuals, was founded in 1996. Its management team remained on board when it was first picked up by Water Street. It has locations in Phoenix, Tampa, Fla., Albuquerque, N.M. and Overland Park, Kan. § Zynex Inc (Littleton, CO), a developer of non-invasive medical devices for electrotherapy and stroke rehabilitation, neurological diagnosis and cardiac monitoring, plans to acquire substantially all of the assets of NeuroDyne Medical Corp (Cambridge, MA). NeuroDyne is manufacturer of medical instruments, sensors, disposable electrodes and software that offer sEMG, EKG, EEG, respiration, skin temp, EDR, EDL, peripheral blood flow, IBI, heart rate, and heart rate variability. Zynex will make the acquisition through its subsidiary, Zynex NeuroDiagnostics Inc. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Baxter International has acquired Baxa, which specializes in improving the safety and delivery of oral and IV drugs, generated roughly $150M in 2010. These days, Baxter International Inc. has been making strides to complement its drug and therapy portfolio. Shelling out $380 million in cash for drug delivery company Baxa Corp. underscores this goal. The deal, announced Thursday, follows last month’s announcement that the NYSE-listed company will invest up to $200 million in early-stage companies through its established Baxter Ventures. Even though privately held Baxa doesn’t fall under the category of a start-up, having been around for 36 years , the acquisition serves as another step in Baxter’s quest to diversify itself as well as expand its existing intravenous (IV) business. The Englewood, Col.-based target, which generated roughly $150 million in 2010, specializes in improving the safety and delivery of oral and IV drug preparation. "This planned acquisition builds upon an earlier announcement this year," a Baxter spokeswoman explained, citing the company's purchase of Prism Pharmaceuticals Inc., a King of Prussia, Pa.-based company that develops and markets premixed IV bags to hospitals, for $338 million in April. Before that, the Deerfield, Ill.-based medical device maker purchased all of the hemophilia-related assets of Archemix, a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, in November. A month earlier it found itself on the other end of the negotiation table, divesting its U.S. generic injectables business. London-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals plc picked up the segment for approximately $112 million. Baxter expects all accounting and transaction-related expenses tied to the transaction to reduce 2012 earnings by at least 3 cents per share. The acquisition, however, will add to earnings in 2013 and beyond, it said. Its market capitalization at the time of the announcement was about $30.1 billion. § Kindred Healthcare Inc (Louisville, KY) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Professional HealthCare (Walnut Creek, CA) for $51 million in cash. Professional is a provider of home health, hospice, private duty nursing services and durable medical equipment. With 27 locations in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah, Professional generates annualized revenues of approximately $53 million and will have no outstanding long-term debt at closing. Subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, the transaction is expected to close by the end of Q3 2011. Kindred expects that the transaction will be slightly accretive to earnings in 2012. § Mölnlycke Health Care (Gothenburg, Sweden) acquired Rynel Inc (Wiscasset, ME), a manufacturer of specialty absorbent polyurethane foam products. Rynel supplies companies in North America, Europe, Africa and the Far East with products addressing a wide range of foam applications. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Aprima Medical Software, a Carrollton, Texas-based provider of practice management and electronic health-record software, announced that it has acquired Health Care Strategies a Richardson, Texas-based revenue-cycle management services provider for physicians. No terms were disclosed. Both companies are in suburbs of Dallas. According to the Health Care Strategies' website, the companies entered into a formal business alliance in August 2006. Aprima was founded in 1998 as iMedica Corp., but changed its name in 2009. § Private-equity firm Apax Partners, London, and other investors have reached a deal partially financed by debt to acquire Kinetic Concepts, a publicly traded wound-care and tissue-regeneration company, for $6.3 billion. A consortium comprised of funds advised by Apax Partners ("Apax"), together with controlled affiliates of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB") and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board ("PSP Investments"), today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Kinetic Concepts, Inc. (NYSE: KCI) for $68.50 per common share in cash. KCI is a U.S.-based medical device company focused on the design, manufacture, marketing and service of therapies and products for the wound care, tissue regeneration and therapeutic support system markets. The transaction is valued at approximately $6.3 billion, including KCI's outstanding debt. In 2010, KCI reported revenues of $2.0 billion. The company's products address a broad range of patient needs and are used by healthcare professionals around the world in a wide range of diverse care settings, such as acute care hospitals, long-term care and skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and wound care clinics. Buddy Gumina, Partner and co-head of the Apax Healthcare team, commented: "We are highly impressed by the culture of innovation at KCI and are excited to work with a business that produces solutions that dramatically improve the lives of many people around the world. Over the years, we have reviewed multiple investments in the medical devices and products industry, having originally identified it as a key growth sector within our overall healthcare investment practice. Based on this experience, we possess a deep understanding of KCI's business and the markets in which the company operates. We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with CPPIB and PSP Investments to support the company's continued growth." André Bourbonnais, Senior Vice-President, Private Investments for CPPIB, said, "KCI is the market leader in its businesses with strong growth potential particularly outside of the core U.S. market. KCI's business is well positioned for growth based on global trends such as demographics, including longevity and an aging population. Together with KCI's management, Apax and PSP Investments, we look forward to building upon KCI's leading market shares and positioning the company for continued long-term success." The transaction is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary conditions. It is currently expected that the acquisition will close in the second half of 2011. § Lamano Agency has been purchased by Lutheran Family Services of Virginia, a well-respected nonprofit that provides educational and social services, that has long wanted to provide services to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. Our day-to-day operations will continue as usual, and we will continue to use The Lamano Agency name. § Almost Family entered into a stock purchase agreement with the shareholders of Cambridge Home Health Care Holdings, Inc. (Cambridge) an Ohio based provider of home health services with $38 million in annual revenues. Cambridge operates a total of 38 home health branches with 35 in Ohio and 3 in western Pennsylvania. Cambridge services over 3,000 patients annually. The Company will be acquiring 100% of the outstanding equity interests of Cambridge with a cash-free, debt free balance sheet for an all-cash purchase price of $32.5 million. The transaction is expected to close by August 6, 2011. In its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2010 Cambridge reported $38.2 million in revenues of which $33.7 million would be classified in our Personal Care segment and $4.5 million would be classified in our Visiting Nurse segment. Net income was $4.3 million after interest expense and related party management fees of $1.1 million. Cambridge is a subchapter S Corporation for income tax purposes and thus had no income tax provision. The Company expects to eventually achieve approximately $1.0 million to $1.5 million in combination synergies. However, the Company expects also to incur certain costs of integration of systems and processes in a range of $600,000 to $800,000 over its planned transition time frame of 6 to 9 months. Finally, reductions in Ohio Medicaid and Passport reimbursement rates going into effect on July 1, 2011 and October 1, 2011 are expected to reduce annual revenue and pre-tax income by approximately $620,000. § Senior Care Inc., a national senior housing provider, acquired a 100-bed assisted living facility in Florence, KY, from Louisville-based Ethos Assisted Living for $15.5 million, or about $150,000 per bed. The purchase and debt financing was handled by an affiliate of Chicago-based Ventas Inc. The facility recently opened in January and provides dementia and memory-care services. The facility is at 212 Main St. in Florence. Senior Care also purchased The Ethos of Mount Washington, a 68-bed assisted living facility, for an additional $7.7 million. These two facilities are Senior Care’s first assisted-living communities in Kentucky. § Staffing company On Assignment Inc. said Monday that it has acquired physician staffing firm HealthCare Partners Inc. for $15 million. The transaction terms include a potential payout of up to an additional $3.7 million. On Assignment used cash and debt borrowed against its senior revolving credit line to fund the acquisition. It anticipates it will achieve an after-tax savings of about $450,000 a year over the next 15 years by classifying the purchase as an asset sale under the federal tax code. On Assignment also expects the transaction to immediately contribute to earnings. Atlanta-based HealthCare Partners has 41 employees and places physicians in 14 specialties across 24 states. Company founders Ruddy and Rhonda Polhill will continue to run the company under its new ownership. § Merge Healthcare (Chicago, IL) completed its acquisition of Ophthalmic Imaging Systems (OIS) (Sacramento, CA), a provider of digital imaging and informatics solutions for ophthalmology and other medical specialties. Merge Healthcare will add OIS’ ophthalmic imaging and informatics solutions, including a single platform electronic health record (EHR) and practice management system, a digital imaging management solution and a modular imaging device that can capture images of both the anterior and posterior segments of the eye, to its portfolio. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Emdeon (Nashville, TN), a healthcare payment and revenue cycle management and clinical information exchange solutions provider, will merge with investment firm Blackstone Capital Partners (New York, NY) in a $3 billion deal that gives a controlling interest to Blackstone. Emdeon will become a private company, and Hellman & Friedman will maintain a significant minority equity interest in Emdeon. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by Emdeon's stockholders and clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2011.
§ Accelrys
Inc (NasdaqGS: ACCL) has acquired Contur Software AB for $13.1
million. The acquisition, which closed on May 23, 2011 includes $10.6
million in cash paid at closing, $2 million in cash kept in escrow to secure
specific warranties which will be released in $1 million installments
subject to one and two year lock up periods, plus two earnouts of $250,000
each contingent on meeting two tiers of performance milestones in the next
24 months. All members of the Contur Management team will be retained. The
acquisition is not expected to have an impact on Accelrys' GAAP and non-GAAP
revenue, operating profit, or EPS for FY2011.
§ § § Provena Health (Mokena, IL) and Resurrection Health Care Corporation (Chicago, IL) reached a definitive agreement to merge. The deal will create the largest Catholic system in Illinois with 12 acute-care hospitals. In 2010, Resurrection reported $1.7 billion in patient revenue and a total loss of $8.7 million. For the same period, Provena reported net patient and resident service revenue of $1.22 billion and net income of $40.5 million. A CON has been filed with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. The deal also awaits state regulatory approval. § Palladium Equity Partners, LLC, a private investment firm based in New York focused on investments in the U.S. Hispanic marketplace, announced today that one of its affiliates has acquired Jordan Healthcare Holdings, Inc. ("Jordan" or the "Company"). Terms were not disclosed. Founded in 1975, Jordan is one of the largest providers of home healthcare in Texas. Jordan offers home health services to pediatric and adult patients, including personal care, home management and skilled nursing, to Medicaid and/or Medicare eligible patients throughout the state. Roy Serpa, CEO of Jordan Health Services, said, "Over the past 35 years, our Company has grown from a family-run, Medicaid-focused operation into one of the leading professionally-managed diversified home healthcare providers in the attractive Texas market. With this transaction, we will be positioned to pursue growth initiatives, including regional expansion and an increased focus on more skilled healthcare." David Perez, Managing Director of Palladium Equity Partners, LLC said, "Jordan is well known throughout Texas as one of the premier regional providers of home healthcare services. The Company has a strong management team who over the last five years has built a robust operating platform and has successfully executed on its growth strategy. We look forward to partnering with management to pursue additional opportunities." § Metropolitan Health Networks, Inc. (NYSE AMEX: MDF), ("Metropolitan") and Continucare Corporation (NYSE: CNU), ("Continucare") announced jointly today that they have entered into a definitive merger agreement whereby Metropolitan will acquire Continucare in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $416 million at the time of announcement. The transaction will create a company that provides care to over 68,000 Medicare Advantage and Medicaid customers. The combined company will own 31 primary care medical practices, utilize a network of more than 250 contracted, independent, primary care practices, and will operate in 18 Florida counties, including the Daytona, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Tampa metropolitan areas. Under the terms of the merger agreement, each share of Continucare common stock will receive $6.25 per share in cash, and 0.0414 of a share of Metropolitan common stock, which, based upon the share price at the time of announcement, is equal to approximately $0.20. The exact value of the consideration per share will depend on Metropolitan's share price at closing. Metropolitan expects to issue approximately 2.7 million shares in connection with the pending transaction. To fund the cash component of the purchase price, Metropolitan plans to use some of its and Continucare's cash and investments, which combined totaled $93 million at March 31, 2011, and has secured a fully underwritten financing commitment from one of the leading health care lenders, GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services and its affiliates, to arrange approximately $355 million in new credit facilities. In connection with the financing, GE Capital Markets will serve as Sole Book Runner and Sole Lead Arranger for the debt financing. The combination of Metropolitan and Continucare will create a company with approximately $660 million in annual revenue, based upon their respective results for the twelve months ended March 31, 2011, and over $90 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the same period. Metropolitan projects annual cost savings principally from the elimination of public company-related expenses as well as the elimination of certain executive level positions, and that the transaction will be accretive in 2012. § Oak Hill Capital Partners announced today that following the closing of their acquisition of AccentCare, Inc. ("AccentCare"), a premier provider of home healthcare services, including nursing and attendant care services, they intend to combine it with Guardian Home Care Holdings, Inc. ("Guardian"), a leading homecare and hospice service provider in the Tennessee, Georgia and Texas markets. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The combination of AccentCare and Guardian creates one of the largest operators in the industry, with an expanded geographical footprint and highly diversified service offerings. The new company will operate over 130 branches across 10 states, serving more than 30,000 patients. § Ansell Limited (Red Bank,NJ) acquired Sandel Medical Industries LLC (Chatsworth, CA), a developer of staff and patient safety disposable products, for $13.5 million. Ansell will continue the Sandel business under the Ansell Sandel Medical Solutions LLC name. Sandel offers products in the following six product categories: sharps safety, ergonomic safety, medication handling and specimen handling, safety kits and safety products/correct site markers for patients. The acquisition is expected to be earnings per share neutral in FY 2012 and accretive from FY 2013 onwards. § Standard Register (Dayton, OH) completed its acquisition of Dialog Medical (Atlanta, GA), a medical documentation company. Standard Register now has a 100 percent ownership interest in Dialog Medical, which will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary, reporting through Standard Register Healthcare, a business unit of Standard Register. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § IPC the Hospitalist Co. has acquired Coast to Coast Physicians Alliance of Orlando, Fla., for an undisclosed sum. With the deal, the North Hollywood, Calif.-based hospitalist physician group practice will add about 26,000 patient visits annually. § Express Scripts (Maryland Heights, MO) plans to acquire Medco Health Solutions Inc (Franklin Lakes, NJ) for $29.1 billion. Express Scripts will pay $28.80 in cash and .81 of its own shares for each Medco share. The deal will make Express Scripts the biggest pharmacy benefits manager in the country. After the deal closes, Express Scripts will own 59 percent of the combined company. George Paz, Express Scripts’ chairman and CEO, will continue to hold those titles. The new company’s board will be expanded to include two current Medco independent directors. The merger is expected to close in the first half of 2012, pending regulatory and shareholder approval. § Pfizer Inc (New York, NY) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Icagen Inc (Research Triangle Park, NC), a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel orally-administered small molecule drugs that modulate ion channel targets. Pfizer, which currently owns approximately 11 percent of Icagen’s fully diluted shares, will acquire the remaining 8.3 million shares at a price of $6.00 per share. The aggregate transaction value, including the value of the shares currently owned by Pfizer, is approximately $56 million. In 2007, Pfizer and Icagen entered into a collaboration for the discovery, development and commercialization of compounds that modify three specific sodium ion channels as new potential treatments for pain and related disorders. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2011. § Ecolab Inc (St. Paul, MN) plans to acquire Nalco Holding Co (Naperville, IL), a chemical company specializing in water treatment and pollution control, in a deal worth $8 billion. Ecolab will pay $38.80 per share, or about $5.4 billion. The remainder of the deal's value is assumed debt. § JLL Partners has sold PharmaNet Development Group to Thomas H. Lee Partners-backed inVentiv Health. PharmaNet had been a JLL portfolio company since 2009. Debt financing for the transaction was provided by BofA Merrill Lynch, Citi and Jefferies Finance. PharmaNet provides drug development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, generic drug and medical device industries, while inVentiv provides clinical, commercial and consulting services to the healthcare industry. § Bound Tree Medical (Dublin, OH) acquired Alliance Medical Inc (Jefferson City, MO), a specialty distributor of emergency medical services (EMS) products, supplies, equipment and clothing that serves customers in more than 30 states. The acquisition advances Bound Tree Medical’s initiative to provide leading-edge equipment, supplies, pharmaceuticals, and value-added services. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (Waltham, MA) acquired Magellan Biosciences' (Chelmsford, MA) microbiology business, TREK Diagnostic Systems. The sale will enable Magellan to focus all its resources on its LeadCare® and Dynex® businesses, both of which have been experiencing strong growth. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Nuance Communications acquired Webmedx, an Atlanta-based transcription services provider for hospitals and clinics, to strengthen its transcription services offerings. A spokesperson for Burlington, Mass.-based Nuance, a provider of speech recognition and transcription services, said financial terms of the deal would not be disclosed. The deal closed June 20. § Thoratec Corp (Pleasanton, CA) acquired the medical business of Levitronix LLC (Waltham, MA) for an upfront cash payment of $110 million and potential future cash earnout payments of up to $40 million. Since 2006, Thoratec has provided distribution and clinical support in the U.S. for the CentriMag® Acute Circulatory Support System, Levitronix's flagship product, under an agreement that was scheduled to expire at the end of 2011. Levitronix and Thoratec also collaborated on the development of the fully magnetically levitated motor technology employed in the HeartMate® III left ventricular assist system, which is currently in preclinical testing. To learn more, visit www.thoratec.com. § Symmetry Medical Inc (Warsaw, IN), a provider of medical device solutions including orthopedic implants, surgical instruments, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Olsen Medical (Louisville, KY), which designs, develops and manufactures electrosurgical instruments and accessories. The all cash transaction has certain pre-closing conditions that must be satisfied, and Symmetry anticipates closing the acquisition by August 15, 2011. The transaction will be neutral to the company's 2011 financial results, excluding acquisition and integration-related charges, and will likely be accretive to the company's 2012 financial results. Additional details were not disclosed. § OptumHealth (Golden Valley, MN) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Connextions Inc (Orlando, FL), a provider of technology and services to the healthcare industry. Connextions, with more than 4,000 employees, helps carriers, providers and employers maximize revenue and increase efficiencies by optimizing customer experience through use of its bConnected technology and industry-leading analytics of member behaviors. Connextions drives more than $3 billion in acquisition, retention and up-sell revenue for the nation’s top carriers and exchange hosts by providing them with insights to deliver trusted health choices, superior quality and timely information to consumers. § LifeCare Hospitals (Plano, TX) completed its previously announced acquisition of seven LTAC hospitals from HealthSouth Corp (Birmingham, AL) for a total consideration of $117.5 million, including working capital. LifeCare now operates 27 LTAC hospitals in 10 states, totaling 1,392 licensed beds. The facilities include HeathSouth RidgeLake Hospital (Sarasota, FL), HealthSouth Hospital at Tenaya (Las Vegas, NV), HealthSouth Regional Specialty Hospital (Mechanicsburg, PA), HealthSouth Hospital of Pittsburgh (Monroeville, PA) and HealthSouth Specialty Hospital of North Louisiana (Ruston, LA), as well as two remote locations, HealthSouth Specialty Hospital of North Louisiana Farmerville (Farmerville, LA) and HealthSouth Specialty Hospital of North Louisiana Homer (Homer, LA). HealthSouth will use the proceeds to help fund a call of $164 million in 10.75% senior notes. § Waste Management Inc (Houston, TX) acquired Oakleaf Global Holdings (Windsor, CT) and its primary operations for $425 million, subject to working capital and other adjustments. The combined company pairs the largest network of directly owned hauling, recycling, diversion and disposal assets with the largest managed third-party network. Oakleaf has a North American vendor network of 2,500 preferred haulers. The acquisition aligns with Waste Management’s financial goals of growing earnings, expanding margins, increasing free cash flow, and increasing returns on invested capital. § CareFusion Corporation (San Diego, CA) completed its acquisition of Rowa, a Germany-based company specializing in robotic medication storage and retrieval systems for retail and hospital pharmacies, for approximately $150 million in cash. The deal will help accelerate the growth of CareFusion Pyxis® dispensing technologies into global retail and hospital pharmacies. Rowa's core products enable high-density, high-speed storage and retrieval of pre-packaged pharmaceutical inventory. § GE Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) Performance Solutions acquired the Medical Event Reporting System (MERS) technology from MERS International LLC (Rockport, MA). MERS is a fundamental component of GE’s Patient Safety Organization (GE PSO), established to help healthcare providers in their efforts to improve patient safety by pinpointing the root causes of risk and fostering collaboration within a community to mitigate those risks. The MERS event reporting technology collects, reports and analyzes patient event and near miss data through a web-based system, which helps hospitals identify root causes of safety events. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § The $1.88 billion sale of SRA International Inc. to an affiliate of Providence Equity Partners has been completed, SRA announced July 20. As previously announced, the all-cash transaction was approved by SRA shareholders at a special meeting of shareholders on July 15. SRA shareholders will receive $31.25 per share in cash. With the consummation of the transaction, SRA common stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. SRA will remain headquartered in Fairfax, Va., and maintain its offices around the world. SRA founder Ernst Volgenau will continue to serve as chairman of the SRA Board. "We believe that Providence Equity will be an excellent partner," Volgenau said in the statement. "Their values and culture are consistent with our longstanding ethic of honesty and service. SRA has a bright future," he added. § Waud Capital Partners-backed Acadia Healthcare and PHC (NYSE Amex: PHC), which does business as Pioneer Behavioral Health, have entered into a definitive merger agreement. After the merger, Acadia stockholders will own a 77.5% stake in the combined company, while PHC stockholders will own a 22.5% stake. Acadia's chairman and CEO, Joey Jacobs, will serve as the combined company's chairman and CEO. Acadia and PHC both operate behavioral health facilities § Under a proposed agreement with the FTC (Washington, DC), Cardinal Health Inc (Dublin, OH) will reconstitute and sell facilities it had closed in Las Vegas, Nevada, Albuquerque, New Mexico and El Paso, Texas in 2009. Cardinal Health acquired the facilities through the acquisition of former competitor Biotech (El Paso, TX) and consolidated operations in Biotech’s pharmacies in those cities. After an investigation, the FTC determined that Cardinal Health had an unfair monopoly in those cities. The pharmacies distribute drugs that are tagged with radioactive elements for diagnoses and treatment, especially in heart disease. Cardinal Health must include in the sale certain intellectual property from Biotech and grant customers in those cities a two-year right to terminate their contracts without penalty so that other buyers have a chance to compete. Cardinal Health plans to sell off the three facilities by the end of 2011. Cardinal Health’s Tempe, Arizona nuclear pharmacy and the cyclotrons acquired from Biotech are not affected.
§ BD
(Becton, Dickinson and Company) (Franklin Lakes, NJ) signed a definitive
agreement to acquire Carmel Pharma Inc (Göteborg, Sweden), which
manufactures the PhaSeal® System, a closed-system drug transfer device for
the safe handling of hazardous drugs that are packaged in vials. The
acquisition is expected to close by the end of BD's FY 2011. Financial terms
of the agreement were not disclosed. § Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (New York, NY) announced it will acquire Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc (San Diego, CA), a small-molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the development of new drugs for inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Bristol-Myers will acquire all of Amira's issued and outstanding shares of capital stock and stock equivalents in an all-cash transaction for a purchase price of $325 million upfront and potential additional milestone payments totaling $150 million. Bristol-Myers Squibb plans to retain Amira Pharmaceuticals’ scientists who work on both of these programs and they will remain located in San Diego. The closing is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
§ Express
Scripts, a US pharmacy benefit manager, said in a statement it had
agreed to buy rival Medco Health Solutions for $34bn including debt
in cash and stock. The deal is the second largest announced globally this
year and the biggest healthcare deal since Merck's $53.9bn acquisition of
rival drugs firm Schering-Plough in March 2009, according to Dealogic, the
investment banking research provider. Under the deal, the company will pay
Medco shareholders $71.36 per share. Once the deal is finalized, the
combined company would become the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the
US, handling prescriptions for about 135 million patients. Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX)
said that the merger will help to reduce costs and to improve patients’
health. The deal will help the company to acquire 30 percent market share.
Express Scripts (NASDAQ:ESRX) shares were at 57.3 at the end of the last
day’s trading. There’s been a 2.0% movement in the stock price over the past
3 months.
§ Safeguard
Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE: SFE), a holding company that builds value in
growth-stage life sciences and § Acadia Healthcare and PHC (NYSE Amex: PHC), which does business as Pioneer Behavioral Health, have entered into a definitive merger agreement. After the merger, Acadia stockholders will own a 77.5% stake in the combined company, while PHC stockholders will own a 22.5% stake. Acadia's chairman and CEO, Joey Jacobs, will serve as the combined company's chairman and CEO. Acadia and PHC both operate behavioral health facilities. § WellPoint is acquiring CareMore, a private-equity owned Medicare Advantage insurer with 54,000 members and 26 clinics in Arizona, California and Nevada. § ATG Rehab announced June 9 it has acquired the mobility and complex rehab division of Rapid City, S.D.-based WestMed Rehab. Founded by Tim Pederson, Deb Holso and John Nesland, WestMed serves more than 800 clients per year in South Dakota's Black Hills area through the region's hospitals, rehab clinics and long-term care facilities, according to a release. The company will become part of ATG's Mountain Region under Regional President Michele Longo, ME, ATP. Mobility and complex rehab customers will continue to receive support from WestMed ATPs Tony Holso and Joe Luciano and technician Kary Fahrner. The addition gives ATG Rehab 28 offices across 20 states, the release said. In March, the company acquired the complex rehab segment of Warwick, R.I.-based Vanguard Home Medical Equipment, a subsidiary of Landauer Metropolitan, and Peak Wheelchairs of Colorado with offices in Lafayette (Denver) and Windsor. Last fall, ATG added four locations in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Lynnwood (Seattle) and Tacoma, Wash. § Verisk Analytics, Inc. (Nasdaq:VRSK), a leading source of information about risk, announced today it has signed an agreement to acquire Health Risk Partners, LLC (HRP), a leading provider of solutions to optimize revenue, ensure compliance, and improve quality of care for Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plans. The acquisition is subject to the completion of customary closing conditions. Based in Richmond, Virginia, HRP has a customer base representing more than 5.5 million Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, and Medicaid lives. § HCA plans to pay $1.45 billion for the remaining 40% stake in Denver-based HCA-HealthONE, the company's joint venture with the Colorado Health Foundation. § Marlin Equity Partners is pleased to announce that it has acquired Advanced Health Management Services, Inc. ("AHMS"), a Hauppauge, New York-based provider of practice management, credentialing and coding services. The company offers comprehensive business management services, consulting services and a selection of automated system solutions to hospitals, university faculty practice plans, group practices and individual practitioners. AHMS has been integrated with MDeverywhere, a Marlin portfolio company. § PositiveID, a manufacturer of healthcare and information management products focused on virus detection and diabetes management has acquired MicroFluidic Systems and their strong portfolio of intellectual property related to sample preparation and rapid medical testing. § Kreisers Inc (Sioux Falls, SD) completed a purchase agreement for the med/surg division of Medico-Mart Inc (Waukesha, WI). This acquisition will give Kreisers its seventh distribution center, its first in Wisconsin. § Amedisys Inc (Baton Rouge, LA) closed its acquisition of Beacon Hospice Inc (Boston, MA), which includes 23 free-standing locations and one inpatient unit, serving the states of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The purchase price was $125 million. The deal is expected to add $0.05 to $0.07 to Amedisys’ earnings in 2011 excluding one-time transaction related costs. § Merge Healthcare (Chicago, IL) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ophthalmic Imaging Systems (OIS) (Sacramento, CA), a provider of digital imaging and informatics solutions for ophthalmology and other medical specialties. OIS shareholders will receive 0.1693 share of Merge Healthcare common stock for each share of OIS common stock. After the deal closes, Merge Healthcare will add ophthalmic imaging and informatics to its current portfolio of enterprise imaging solutions for radiology, cardiology and orthopaedics; a suite of products for clinical trials; software for financial and pre-surgical management, and applications. § The Ensign Group Acquires Symbii Home Health and Hospice, a home health and hospice agency with branches in Utah. Effective as of May 15th, 2011, the company will be operated by a subsidiary of Conerstone Healthcare, Ensign’s home health and hospice-based portfolio subsidiary. “We are pleased with the growth and development of our home health and hospice businesses thus far, and this lateral diversification broadens Ensign’s reach into that business,” said Christopher Christensen, Ensign’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “More importantly,” he added, “the Symbii acquisition reflects the increasing depth of our long-term commitment to the vibrant Utah healthcare community and our existing operations there.” It joins Horizon Home Health and Hospice, Ensign’s existing home health and hospice operation in Idaho, and Custom Care Hospice, Ensign’s hospice operation in the Dallas, Texas market. “We are anxious to build on Symbii’s outstanding reputation for quality care and patient outcomes,” said Daniel Walker, Cornerstone’s President. § MBF Healthcare Partners, L.P. ("MBF") and New MainStream Capital ("NMS"), today announced the merger of SunCrest Healthcare ("SunCrest") and OMNI Home Care ("OMNI"), a portfolio company of MBF and NMS. MBF and NMS will continue to share joint ownership of the combined companies. § Hospice Plus, Inc. has completed a majority recapitalization with a leading undisclosed private equity firm. Hospice Plus began as a start up hospice agency in 2005 and has grown to become the largest hospice agency in the Dallas area. As an organization, Hospice Plus is providing over 12,000 community based patient interactions per month. § Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) (NASDAQ: WAG) and online retailer drugstore.com, inc. (NASDAQ: DSCM) today announced a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Walgreens will acquire drugstore.com in a transaction with a total enterprise value of approximately $409 million. “Our acquisition of drugstore.com today significantly accelerates our online strategy to leverage the best community store network in America by becoming the most convenient choice for health and daily living needs whether customers shop online or in our stores,” said Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson. “This acquisition offers a unique opportunity that will provide us immediate access to more than 3 million savvy, online loyal customers, and will allow us to move even closer to our existing customers through relationships with new vendors and partners, adding approximately 60,000 products to our already strong online offering. Importantly, drugstore.com’s well-recognized presence in the health, personal care, beauty and vision categories, including such strong websites as drugstore.com™, Beauty.com™, SkinStore.com™ and VisionDirect.com™, will complement and extend many of our own multi-channel initiatives that have been driving growth in our business. As a result, we are positioned better than ever to be the most convenient multi-channel retailer of health and daily living needs in America – offering customers what they want, when they want it and where they want it.” Under the terms of the merger agreement, drugstore.com stockholders will receive $3.80 in cash for each share of stock, which represents an equity value of approximately $429 million. The price per share is a premium of approximately 102 percent over drugstore.com’s 30-day average closing stock price, and a premium of approximately 113 percent over the closing price of drugstore.com’s common stock on March 23, 2011, the last trading day prior to today’s announcement. Consummation of the merger is subject to customary conditions, including satisfaction of regulatory requirements and approval of the transaction by drugstore.com’s stockholders. Walgreens will fund the acquisition with existing cash and anticipates the merger will close by the end of June 2011. § Nestle Health Science S.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nestle S.A., has agreed to buy Prometheus Laboratories. The deal is expected to close within the third quarter of 2011. Additional deal terms were undisclosed. The specialty pharmaceutical and diagnostic company was founded in 1995 and has received backing from DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Split Rock Partners’ SPVC, Sprout Group which is sub-advised by New Leaf Venture Partners, Apax Partners, Pamlico Capital and Brentwood Venture Capital. Prometheus made an attempt to go public in 2007. It had the intentions of raising approximately $100 million proceeds but plans seemed to take longer than expected. It updated its filing last August and then again earlier this year in February. Luis Cantarell, Nestle Health Science president and CEO, stated in the press release that the acquisition of Prometheus is a strategic move into gastrointestinal diagnostics. Prometheus's diagnostics technology and sales force will help Nestle to develop an integrated approach to personalized healthcare. Nestle Health Science kicked off in January 2011 with the intention of breaking ground into the science-based nutritional solutions space so it can provide improved personalized healthcare for medical conditions. Nestle is set out to change the healthcare model and deliver affordable and effective health benefits. Joseph Limber, Prometheus president and CEO, said teaming up with Nestle will help accelerate the development its innovative diagnostic platforms for gastroenterology and oncology and potentially into additional important therapeutic areas. He said the company intends to leverage Nestle Health Science's nutritional product offerings and geographic presence to expand its Rx/Dx business model into a Dx/Nx/Rx model. § Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) (Burlington, NC) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Clearstone Central Laboratories (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada), a global provider of central laboratory services for late-stage clinical trials. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Five Star has entered binding agreements to acquire six senior living communities located in Indiana for approximately $123 million. These high quality senior living communities contain a total of 738 separate living units: 191 independent living apartments; 525 assisted living suites; and 22 units which are specially designated for Alzheimer's care. The current occupancy at these communities is approximately 91% and all of the residents pay for services at these communities with private (i.e., not government funded Medicaid or Medicare) resources. These six communities are in addition to 10 senior living communities (925 living units) currently operated by Five Star in Indiana, including the nationally recognized Meadowood Retirement Community located adjacent to Indiana University in Bloomington. The purchase price for these six Indiana communities of approximately $123 million will be paid by Five Star's assuming existing mortgage debt on certain communities totaling approximately $19.5 million, by a one year bridge loan commitment from Senior Housing Properties Trust (NYSE: SNH) for up to $80 million, and by Five Star's using cash on hand or borrowings under its revolving credit facility. The purchase of these six communities is expected to close starting in June 2011, subject to obtaining required regulatory approvals, lender consents for mortgage assumptions and satisfaction of other closing conditions. On May 1, 2011, Five Star purchased the Granite Gate senior living community in Prescott, AZ for $25.6 million. This 116 unit high quality community is approximately 97% occupied and all of the residents pay for services with private resources. The purchase price was paid by Five Star's assuming a Fannie Mae mortgage for $18.7 million and using cash on hand for the balance. This community includes approximately 7 acres of land for possible expansion. Five Star currently operates five other senior living communities in Arizona with 1,042 living units. § Insulet Corporation (NASDAQ: PODD), the leader in tubeless insulin pump technology with its OmniPod(R) Insulin Management System, today announced that it has acquired Neighborhood Diabetes, Inc., a leading durable medical equipment distributor specializing in direct to consumer sales of diabetes supplies, including pharmaceuticals, and support services, for total consideration of approximately $63 million in cash and stock. Neighborhood Diabetes is based in Woburn, Massachusetts with offices in Brooklyn, New York and Orlando, Florida and serves more than 60,000 customers with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes primarily in the northeast and southeast regions of the country with blood glucose testing supplies, insulin pumps, pump supplies and pharmaceuticals. More than 15,000 of Neighborhood Diabetes clients are insulin dependent with the majority of these clients using multiple daily injection (MDI) therapy. § Merge Healthcare, Chicago, signed a definitive agreement to buy Ophthalmic Imaging Systems, Sacramento, Calif., in a stock deal worth approximately $30.3 million. The purchase would add ophthalmic imaging and informatics to Merge's current lineup of imaging enterprise products, which includes radiology, cardiology and orthopedics, according to Merge. The agreement calls for Merge to issue 0.1693 shares of stock for each share of Ophthalmic Imaging, which was calculated with a five-day average Merge share price as of June 3 to value Ophthalmic Imaging at $1 a share, according to a news release. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2011 pending customary closing conditions and the successful completion of a California Fairness Hearing before the California Department of Corporations. § Alexian Brothers Health System, which has an array of Chattanooga-area facilities employing about 750 people, has agreed to merge with the nation’s largest Catholic-owned medical care provider. Ascension Health, operator of both St. Thomas Hospital and Baptist Hospital in Nashville, has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Alexian, according to the entities. In the Chattanooga area, Alexian traces its Roman Catholic roots to 1936 on Signal Mountain where it set up a retreat and training center. Now, the suburban Chicago-based Alexian has a number of interdependent offerings providing residential and community-based retirement services in the region ranging from home health care to senior apartments to a skilled nursing home. Matt Fox, chief executive of Alexian Village here, said Friday he expects little immediate impact on local operations from the proposed merger. “It’s more a strategic move to prepare for the future,” he said. “With health care reform, it affords a little more protection being part of a large group.” Locally, Fox said, the merger will give Alexian access to capital and opportunity. Ascension spokeswoman Trudy Hamilton said the St. Louis-based nonprofit and Alexian are aiming to close the deal by year’s end. Ascension employs about 113,000 people in more than 500 sites in 20 states and in Washington, D.C. § Franciscan St. Francis Health is bringing the area's largest local home health care provider under its umbrella. Visiting Nurse Service Inc., based in Indianapolis, will have its entire board of directors appointed by Franciscan St. Francis, the organizations announced Thursday. And over time, VNS will take responsibility for all of Franciscan St. Francis' home health and hospice care. The partnership, expected to take effect June 1, is the latest example of Indiana hospitals embracing primary health care providers as the 2010 health care reform law pushes them toward managing all stages of health for specific groups of patients. § Madison-based SunCrest Healthcare, Inc. has merged with Florida-based OMNI Home Health Services. The combined home health care company will continue to operate out of Maddison under the SunCrest Healthcare name. According to a news release, the merger will will expand SunCrest’s geographic presence and create additional opportunities for growth. After the merger, the administrative headquarters for SunCrest Healthcare, Inc. will be located in Madison, Tennessee. Many aspects of corporate and support services will be performed in Madison, Tennessee and Coral Springs, Florida, where OMNI is located. Local branches of SunCrest Healthcare and OMNI Home Care will retain their brand name after the merger. The combined company will benefit from equity capital from New MainStream Capital and MBF Healthcare Partners to continue its consolidation strategy. Both private equity firms have been investors in Omni Home Health since 2008. § Cerner Corp (Kansas City, MO) completed the acquisition of Resource Systems (New Concord, OH), a developer of the Care Tracker® point-of-care electronic documentation systems, from TripleTree LLC (Minneapolis, MN). Care Tracker is currently in use by over 3,000 organizations. Resource Systems’ solutions are complementary to Cerner’s current long-term care offerings and allow Cerner to improve reimbursement and provide better residential care to clients in the long-term care marketplace. TripleTree, which served as the exclusive financial advisor to Resource Systems, is an independent investment bank and strategic advisor providing growth companies in healthcare and other industries with merger and acquisition, private capital and principal investing services. § Standard Register (Dayton, OH) plans to purchase Dialog Medical (Atlanta, GA), a medical documentation company. Dialog Medical has about $5 million in annual revenue. It will be operated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Register and report to its healthcare division. Terms of the agreement, which is expected to close by June 30, 2011, were not disclosed. § Blue Sky Biotech, Inc. has completed a recapitalization with Boston-based private equity firm Ampersand Ventures. Blue Sky Biotech, based in Massachusetts, is a Contract Research Organization (CRO). The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Provident Healthcare Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Blue Sky Biotech. Founded in 2003, Blue Sky Biotech aims to alleviate the onerous and labor-intensive tasks that take scientists away from key experimentation, novel theory exploration and other optimal uses of their time. Blue Sky is synonymous with productivity in the early discovery biology processes known as genetic cloning, recombinant protein expression and laboratory-scale fermentation (scale-up bioprocessing). § University of Maryland Medical Systems Inc (UMMS) (Baltimore, MD) reached an agreement to acquire Civista Health (La Plata, MD) for $16.5 million. Civista Health includes 129-bed Civista Medical Center (La Plata, MD) and several outpatient locations. Under the deal, UMMS will spend $4 million to buy out the hospital's property lease from Charles County, Maryland and will invest $2.5 million a year for five years in physician recruiting and support for Civista Medical Center. UMMS' Noel Cervino, Erik Boas, and Dr. Mark Dumais became Civista's CEO, CFO, and chief medical officer, respectively. The deal is slated to close on July 1, 2011. § Palm Beach Capital has completed a significant investment in Arriva Medical, a mail-order distributor of diabetic testing supplies and related medical products. Equity financing for the transaction was provided through Palm Beach Capital Fund III. § Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corporation (Plainsboro, NJ) acquired SeaSpine Inc (Vista, CA) for $89 million in cash, subject to certain post-closing adjustments. SeaSpine develops and distributes a full range of spinal fixation products, including both hardware and biologics, to customers across the United States and in select markets in Europe. The addition of the SeaSpine business effectively doubles Integra's distribution footprint and customer base in the U.S. spine hardware market. § Stryker Corp. announced a deal to buy Malvern, PA-based orthopedic biologics maker, Orthovita Inc., in an all-cash deal worth $316 million. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter. Orthovita makes products for the fusion, regeneration and fracture fixation of human bone. § PeaceHealth (Bellevue, WA) and Southwest Washington Health System (Vancouver, WA) completed their merger in May 2011. As part of the merger, Southwest Washington Medical Center (Vancouver, WA) was renamed PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center. Southwest will also follow Catholic-based PeaceHealth's mission. § Nurses Unlimited Inc. has acquired the Practical Care Continuum, an Austin home health care agency. Odessa-based Nurses Unlimited is one of the largest providers in Texas of in-home care for seniors. "Entering into the Austin community is something we have aspired to for some time," said Bobby Laughry, CEO of Nurses Unlimited. "Practical Care Continuum and its founder, Samantha Young, have established an extremely reputable home care business in Austin, and we hope to perpetuate that while adding even more access to different types of home care services to the community. We look forward to getting to know our newest staff additions and working with our clients in Austin." § Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), one of America's leading home health and hospice companies, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the hospice operations of Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC). Hospice of Hackensack, with annual revenue of approximately $5 million in 2010, operates one hospice agency and one eight-bed hospice inpatient unit, primarily serving the counties of Bergen and Hudson, but licensed to provide care throughout all counties in New Jersey. The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including state regulatory approvals. It is not expected to add materially to Amedisys’ earnings in 2011. § The privately owned Raleigh, North Carolina-based INC Research plans to acquire Kendle International for $15.25 per share in cash, an equity value of roughly $232 million. INC Research, which is owned by Avista Capital Partners and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, will be able to reach critical mass for the emerging drug development outsourcing and alliance partnership platforms with the new addition of Kendle. Avista and OTTP acquired the drug developer from Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners to support its next phase of growth. Kendle makes the first acquisition for INC Research since Avista and OTTP bought them last August. The two contract research originations will be ranked within the top-tier of CRO’s given its size and scale. As a result, the combined company will be able to take on large-scale global trails. Kendle’s board of directors unanimously approved the merger and is expected to close within the third quarter. The deal is subject to approval by Kendle’s shareholders as well as regulatory approvals. § The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENSG) announced that an Ensign subsidiary has acquired Symbii Home Health and Hospice, a well-regarded home health and hospice agency based in Sandy, Utah, with branch offices in the cities of Layton and Orem, Utah. The acquisition was effective as of May 15, 2011. Ensign purchased the agency with cash, and expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in 2011. Ensign CEO, Mr. Christensen, reaffirmed that Ensign is actively seeking additional opportunities to acquire both well-performing and struggling long-term and short-term care operations across the United States. § Cerner Corporation (Nasdaq:CERN) announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Resource Systems, developer of the CareTracker® point-of-care electronic documentation system currently utilized by more than 3,000 organizations, primarily within skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Resource Systems' solutions are complementary to Cerner's current long-term care offerings, allowing the company to offer enhanced value through improved reimbursement and better resident care to clients in the long-term care marketplace. According to the American Health Care Association, there are currently more than 15,000 long-term care facilities in the United States, and this number is expected to increase significantly as the population ages. "Long-term care services are performed in a variety of post-acute settings, ranging from skilled nursing facilities to managing a person's health in their home to end of life hospice services," said John Landis, Cerner senior vice president. "With this acquisition, Cerner is solidifying its commitment in the post-acute marketplace while immediately aligning with a strong long-term care client base. The acquisition is anticipated to close in May of 2011 and is not expected to have a material impact on Cerner's 2011 financial results. Triplett will join Cerner and help lead its growth in the long-term care market. § Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc (Waltham, MA) successfully completed its tender offer for Dionex Corporation, which expired on May 13, 2011. Thermo Fisher stated that the acquisition of Dionex is consistent with its strategy of accelerating growth by increasing its depth of capabilities in innovative technologies and emerging markets. Thermo Fisher intends to complete its acquisition of the remaining shares of Dionex through a short-form merger later this week. § Chroniscript, a specialty pharmacy providing transplant SPS located in Miami, FL has been acquired by Walgreens. § PerkinElmer Inc (Waltham, MA) acquired Labtronics Inc (Ontario, Canada), a provider of procedures-based Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) solutions for laboratories performing routine analysis in multiple industries. The addition of Labtronics’ solutions extends PerkinElmer’s ELN and data integration software offerings into laboratories following strict routine procedures, such as regulated and non-regulated QA/QC, late stage product or method development laboratories, and environmental and food testing labs. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Kindred Healthcare Inc (Louisville, KY) and RehabCare Group (St. Louis, MO) received all required regulatory approvals to move forward with Kindred's previously announced acquisition of RehabCare. The transaction is expected to close by June 30, 2011, subject to approvals by the stockholders of both companies and consummation of financing. § Surgery Partners (Tampa, FL) completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding shares of NovaMed Inc (Chicago, IL) for $13.25 per share in cash, or approximately $214 million. Under the merger agreement, NovaMed, an operator of ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians, will continue as a wholly owned subsidiary of Surgery Partners and NovaMed’s common stock will cease to trade on NASDAQ and will be delisted. § Waud Capital Partners ("WCP") today announced that its portfolio company, Acadia Healthcare Company ("Acadia" or the "Company"), has acquired Youth & Family Centered Services, Inc. ("YFCS"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. YFCS, based in Austin, Texas, operates 13 behavioral healthcare facilities for youths and adolescents across eight states. The combined company will operate over 1,700 patient beds and generate over $260 million of revenue annually. Joey Jacobs, the former President and CEO of Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. ("PSI"), has joined Nashville-based Acadia as CEO along with other former PSI senior executive team members. "The combination of YFCS and Acadia builds upon the strength of the existing Acadia platform and creates a nationwide behavioral healthcare company of meaningful scale. This combination, coupled with a highly successful and proven senior management team, greatly strengthens Acadia's growth prospects, leaving it well-positioned to enter new markets and further execute its strategic growth plan," said Chuck Edwards, Principal of WCP. "This transaction strategically positions Acadia to become the leading dedicated provider of high quality behavioral healthcare services in the U.S.," said Joey Jacobs, CEO of Acadia. The transaction marks Acadia's seventh acquisition since WCP formed the company in December 2005. § Home health and hospice care provider Amedisys Inc said it will acquire privately-held Beacon Hospice Inc for $125 million to bolster its presence in the New England market. Amedisys expects the deal to add 5-7 cents a share to its earnings in 2011, excluding one-off expenses. "With an average daily census of approximately 1,300 patients, the addition of Beacon will increase the number of hospice patients under our care by nearly 40 percent," said James Robinson, executive vice president of Amedisys Hospice Care. Beacon, which is headquartered in Boston, reported 2010 revenue of about $80 million. § Managed Healthcare Associates (MHA) (Florham Park, NJ), a group purchasing organization serving alternate site providers, completed the acquisition of Tidewater Group Purchasing (Baltimore, MD) from Omnicare Inc (Covington, KY). Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The purchase of Tidewater follows MHA's acquisition of Navigator Group Purchasing Inc (Nashville, TN) in late December 2010. The combined purchasing volume of Navigator and Tidewater Group Purchasing will create increased purchasing power and provide for better pricing for its combined members. The divestiture of Tidewater Group Purchasing enables Omnicare to focus on areas of its business that align more closely with its objectives. § Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE: CYH) announced today that its subsidiaries have acquired substantially all of the assets of Mercy Health Partners in Northeast Pennsylvania, a system of hospitals and other healthcare providers based in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The health system, acquired from Catholic Health Partners, includes 198-bed Regional Hospital of Scranton and 48-bed Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock, which are both general acute care hospitals; Special Care Hospital, a 67-bed long-term acute care facility in Nanticoke; and other outpatient and ancillary services.
§ PPG Industries (NYSE: PPG) today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of certain assets of Equa-Chlor, Inc., a producer of chlorine, caustic soda and muriatic acid, based in Longview, Wash. The transaction value was approximately $27 million. "We are pleased with the successful closing of this acquisition," said Michael H. McGarry, PPG senior vice president, Commodity Chemicals. § Astrodyne Corporation, a leading provider of power solutions, announced it has completed the acquisition of Jerome Industries. Since 1964, Elizabeth, New Jersey-based Jerome has been a supplier of modified custom and standard power supplies as well as battery chargers and transformers for the medical, military and industrial markets. § Michael J. Hennessy & Associates, through its medical education company, ArcMesa Educators, has acquired Physicians' Education Resource (PER), a continuing medical education company that is an industry leader in producing high-quality, first-rate oncology and hematology meetings and conferences. § IASIS Healthcare Corporation (Franklin, TN) completed its agreement to acquire 78.2 percent of Saint Joseph Medical Center (Houston, TX), a 792 licensed bed facility. Physician investors retain the balance of the hospital’s equity. The transaction was based upon an enterprise value of $165 million and is subject to final purchase price adjustments. Saint Joseph is staffed by over 600 board certified physicians and 1,500 medical professionals and staff. The acquisition of Saint Joseph expands IASIS’ presence in Texas to five hospitals and 1,935 licensed beds. § GE Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) reached an agreement to acquire Applied Precision Inc (Issaquah, WA), a supplier of cellular imaging technologies for the cell biology and biomedical research sectors. The deal will allow GE Healthcare to expand its offering of products and services for pharmaceutical and life science research. The company plans to retain the Applied Precision facility in Issaquah, Washington. Terms of the acquisition, which is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q2 2011, were not disclosed. § RMH Healthcare (Harrisonburg, VA) announced that plans to merge with Sentara Healthcare (Norfolk, VA) are finalized and the merger is expected to close around May 1, 2011. At that time, RMH will be a member of the Sentara Healthcare system, and Rockingham Memorial Hospital (Harrisonburg, VA) will become Sentara's ninth hospital. Under the agreement, Sentara Healthcare will provide RMH with investments in programs and services to meet the needs of the community. All funds raised through the RMH Foundation will remain local. A transition period will follow which could take up to a year as RMH Healthcare and Sentara Healthcare integrate operations, IT technologies, business practices and workplace cultures. § LHC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:LHCG), a national provider of home health and hospice, announced today that it has entered into a home health and hospice joint venture with Helen Keller Hospital located in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to provide home health and hospice services. The primary service area of this joint venture spans six counties in the Certificate of Need (CON) state of Alabama, with an estimated population of approximately 260,000 and almost 16% over the age of 65. Annual net revenue for this joint venture is approximately $3.0 million. This agency will operate under the name of Keller Home Care and Keller Hospice. § Southcoast Health System announced Wednesday that it will consolidate its home health and hospice agencies to form Southcoast Visiting Nurse Association. Southcoast VNA will bring together the staff, services and volunteers of the region’s two top home health and hospice agencies, Visiting Nurse Association of Southeastern Massachusetts, located in Fall River and serving the regions of Fall River, Taunton and East Bay, Rhode Island, and Southcoast Home Care, Hospice & Palliative Care & Infusion, located in Fairhaven and serving the regions of New Bedford and Wareham. Though both agencies are part of Southcoast Health System, they have functioned separately since the merger in 1996. “Bringing together our two home health and hospice services strengthens our ability to improve access of care for patients at all levels of our system by combining our resources and staff,” said Keith A. Hovan, president of Southcoast Health System and president & CEO of Southcoast Hospitals Group. § Waud Capital Partners-backed CarePoint Partners has added on Premier Infusion. The acquired company provides home infusion pharmacy services in Austin, TX, as well as infusion pharmacy and related nursing services in the Atlanta, GA area. WCP formed CarePoint in September 2007 to acquire, develop and operate a network of infusion and specialty pharmacies. § Mediware (Lenexa, KS) completed its acquisition of the assets of CareCentric Inc's (Atlanta, GA) home medical equipment, home health and home infusion businesses. The deal adds more than 300 new customers, and the related products, services and contracts supporting home medical equipment, home health and home infusion providers throughout the United States. Mediware plans to integrate the CareCentric business with its existing Alternate Care Solutions (ACS) product line
§ Endo Pharmaceuticals' diversification efforts got a boost this morning, as the company announced a $2.9 billion acquisition of American Medical Systems. Endo is acquiring the Nasdaq-listed company in an all-cash deal valued at $2.9 billion, or $30 a share. The transaction includes the assumption of $312 million of debt. American Medical, a maker of devices and therapies focused on pelvic health, plays into the urology space, similar to other recent acquisitions by Endo. § Kindred Healthcare (Louisville, KY) and RehabCare Group (St. Louis, MO) announced that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Improvement Act of 1976 for Kindred’s previously announced acquisition of RehabCare was terminated on April 8, 2011. The transaction is expected to close by June 30, 2011. § Waud Capital Partners ("WCP") today announced that its portfolio company, Acadia Healthcare Company ("Acadia" or the "Company"), has acquired Youth & Family Centered Services, Inc. ("YFCS"). Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. YFCS, based in Austin, Texas, operates 13 behavioral healthcare facilities for youths and adolescents across eight states. The combined company will operate over 1,700 patient beds and generate over $260 million of revenue annually. Joey Jacobs, the former President and CEO of Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. ("PSI"), has joined Nashville-based Acadia as CEO along with other former PSI senior executive team members. "The combination of YFCS and Acadia builds upon the strength of the existing Acadia platform and creates a nationwide behavioral healthcare company of meaningful scale. This combination, coupled with a highly successful and proven senior management team, greatly strengthens Acadia's growth prospects, leaving it well-positioned to enter new markets and further execute its strategic growth plan," said Chuck Edwards, Principal of WCP. As a result of the transaction, Acadia now provides services at 19 facilities in 13 states across the country. § IntelliCentrics Inc, owner and operator of both Reptrax and Vendor Clear, acquired Status Blue LLC (Marietta, GA), a vendor compliance solution provider. With the acquisition IntelliCentrics will unite the majority of the industry’s credentialing efforts onto one standardized platform. IntelliCentrics, which specializes in concentric circles of security determined by an individual's privilege to enter specific areas in a given facility, is a subsidiary of USA deView Inc (Dallas, TX). With guidance from the CDC (Atlanta, GA) and accrediting bodies, IntelliCentrics provides a reliable foundation on which facilities can implement vendor credentialing § Ascension Health (St Louis, MO) signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Alexian Brothers Health System Foundation (Arlington Heights, IL). Alexian Brothers includes141-bed Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital (Hoffman Estates, IL), 365-bed Alexian Brothers Medical Center (Elk Grove Village, IL) and 255-bed Saint Alexius Medical Center (Hoffman Estates, IL). Financially sound, Alexian Brothers began a search in 2009, seeking a partner that could bolster the system's resources in light of declining reimbursements. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2011. § Accuray Inc (Sunnyvale, CA) announced the expiration of the mandatory, pre-merger waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, in connection with the previously announced acquisition of TomoTherapy Inc (Madison, WI) for approximately $277 million. The transaction is expected to close in June or July of 2011 and is subject to approval by TomoTherapy's shareholders and other customary closing conditions. § Omnicare Inc (Covington, KY) sold its Omnicare Clinical Research (King of Prussia, PA) division to Nautic Partners LLC (Providence, RI), a private equity firm. Founded in 1986, Omnicare CR has successfully completed over 1,500 studies worldwide in the last five years with more than 337,000 participating patients. Omnicare CR specializes in specific, client-focused business units – early phase, phase II/III, late phase, medical device, technical services and pharmaceutics. The company has office locations in 32 countries and has relationships with customers throughout the world, comprising some of the world's leading pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device companies. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. § AmSurg Corp (Nashville, TN) signed an agreement to acquire National Surgical Care (NSC) (Dallas, TX) for $173.5 million in cash. NSC operates nine ambulatory surgery centers located throughout nine states. In 2010, NSC generated approximately $124.5 million in consolidated revenue. The transaction is scheduled to be complete by the end of Q2 2011. § Health Care REIT Inc (Toledo, OH) completed its $2.4 billion acquisition of substantially all of the real estate assets of Genesis HealthCare Corp (Kennett Square, PA) on April 1, 2011. The long-term, triple-net lease included 147 post-acute, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in 11 Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. § CareFusion Corporation (San Diego, CA) completed its acquisition of Vestara (Irvine, CA), a developer of pharmaceutical waste management solutions, for $17 million. With this purchase, CareFusion is expanding its Pyxis medication management portfolio with the Pyxis EcoStation, a hardware and software system that enables hospitals to "identify, classify and segregate pharmaceutical waste," and track the information for regulatory controls. § Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) (Burlington, NC) entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Orchid Cellmark Inc (Princeton, NJ) for approximately $85.4 million. Orchid Cellmark is an international provider of DNA testing services primarily for forensic and family relationship applications. The deal is expected to close in Q2 2011. § Medline Industries Inc (Mundelein, IL) completed its acquisition of CareFusion Corporation's (San Diego, CA) International Surgical Products (ISP) distribution business. The business, which is based in Rolle, Switzerland, has operations in 16 European and Asian-Pacific countries. It generated sales of approximately $440 million in 2010, elevating Medline's annual company sales to approximately $4.5 billion.
§ Capital Group Holdings acquired Main Street Pharmacy (Newbern, TN), a company that provides DME, compounding and home infusion services. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. § Metropolitan Jewish Health System recently announced its acquisition of Jacob Perlow Hospice from Beth Israel Medical Center, as well as the Mollie and Jack Zicklin Jewish Hospice Residence in Riverdale, formerly run by the UJA-Federation of New York. The merger makes the Metropolitan Jewish Hospice the largest hospice and palliative care program in New York State, as well as the largest Jewish hospice — and one of the only of its kind — in the region. § Managed Healthcare Associates (MHA) (Florham Park, NJ) acquired the MED Group (Lubbock, TX), a company that provides group purchasing and business solutions to home care providers. Under the acquisition agreement, the Med Group management team, except for CEO Bill Elliott, will join MHA. Elliott is expected to leave the company after serving briefly as a consultant to assist with the transition. The Med Group will retain its name. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. § Cardinal Health Inc (Dublin, OH) plans to acquire Kinray Inc (Whitestone, NY), a pharmaceutical distributor serving the New York metropolitan area, for $1.3 billion in an all-cash transaction. Kinray boasts annual sales in excess of $3.5 billion, and currently serves more than 2,000 independent retail pharmacy customers as a distributor of both branded and generic pharmaceuticals. Cardinal Health expects the transaction to be neutral to slightly accretive to non-GAAP earnings in FY 2011, depending on the timing of the closing. The addition of Kinray will continue to diversify and broaden Cardinal Health's customer mix by increasing its retail independent pharmacy base by 40 percent to approximately 7,000 total customers. Subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the transaction should close by the end of 2010 or early 2011. § Midmark Corporation (Versailles, OH) entered into an agreement to acquire Newmed S.r.L. (Quattro Castella, Italy), a manufacturer of tabletop sterilization products and accessories for the medical, dental and animal health markets. Newmed designs and manufactures a variety of Class-B, Class-S, and Class-N autoclave sterilizers that are sold throughout Europe and the Middle East. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Seacoast Hospice, Inc. (Seacoast) has consummated a transaction with Beacon Hospice, Inc. (Beacon), under which Beacon has agreed to purchase substantially all of the non-real estate assets of Seacoast and to operate the Hyder Family Hospice House, with Beacon having an option to assume the Hyder House lease in the future. Paragon Ventures acted as the exclusive advisor to Seacoast Hospice in the transaction. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Kindred Healthcare, Inc. announced that its subsidiaries have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Signature Health Services, LLC, a home health company in Ohio. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The Company expects to finance the transaction with proceeds from its revolving credit facility. Signature operates ten locations primarily in the central and northeastern regions of Ohio. Kindred currently operates two long-term acute care hospitals and nine nursing and rehabilitation centers within the service areas of these home health operations. In addition, Kindred’s People first home care and hospice business currently provides hospice services in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. The assets being acquired currently generate annualized revenues of approximately $13.4 million and earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization of approximately $2.3 million. The transaction is subject to several regulatory approvals and other conditions to closing and is expected to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2010. § Boston Scientific Corporation (Natick, MA) signed a definitive agreement under which Stryker Corporation (Kalamazoo, MI) will acquire its neurovascular business for $1.5 billion payable in cash. Under the agreement, $1.4 billion is payable at closing and $100 million will be payable following the closing and upon the occurrence of the commercialization of the next-generation Target™ Detachable Coils and the transfer or separation of certain manufacturing facilities, which is anticipated to occur over a period of approximately 24 months. Boston Scientific expects to record a gain upon closing in excess of $500 million. § GE (Fairfield, CT) plans to acquire Clarient Inc (Aliso Viejo, CA), a cancer diagnostics company, for about $580 million. Clarient’s tests help determine which blood cells are affected in the cases of blood cancer, and whether certain gene variants are present in other cancers. About 47 percent of Clarient stockholders have agreed to the sale. Safeguard Scientifics Inc (Wayne, PA), which owns 26 percent of Clarient’s shares, expects proceeds of $145 million from the transaction. Clarient would pay GE an $18 million breakup fee under certain circumstances, including if its board withdraws or changes a recommendation to support the offer. Details about a closing date were not disclosed. § Cardiac Science Corp. (Bothell, WA) will be acquired by Opto Circuits Ltd. (Bangalore, India) for about $55 million cash in a tender offer. Opto Circuits, which makes health care equipment, will fund the acquisition with cash and its credit lines. Upon completion of the merger, Cardiac Science will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Opto Circuits. No further information was disclosed. § Management Health Solutions Inc (MHS) (Fairfield, CT), a provider of clinical inventory solutions, acquired Hospital Inventories Specialists (HISI) (Tampa, FL), a provider of inventory management solutions and analytical services. The acquisition will double MHS' customer base and market share, and add to its analytical, benchmarking and deep healthcare domain repertoire. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Assisted Living Concepts Inc (ALC) (Menomonee Falls, WI) signed an agreement to acquire nine senior living residences from HCP Inc (Long Beach, CA) for $27.5 million plus certain transaction costs. The nine residences are currently leased and operated by ALC under leases expiring between 2010 and 2012. Subject to customary closing conditions, the transaction is expected to close on or around October 31, 2010. The nine residences, two of which are located in New Jersey and seven in Texas, contain a total of 365 units § Omnicare, Inc. and Walgreen Co. announced a deal Friday in which Omnicare will acquire most of Walgreen’s long-term care pharmacy business. Financial terms weren’t disclosed but the transaction, subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions, is expected to be completed before Nov. 15. Under the deal, Walgreens will acquire Omnicare’s six home infusion locations operating in Maryland, Nevada, Virginia, Pennsylvania and California, one compounding pharmacy location in Nevada, and one home care management location in Maryland. Meanwhile, Omnicare – the nation’s largest provider of pharmaceutical care for the elderly – will acquire Walgreens’ long-term care pharmacy locations operating in Colorado, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Maryland § MedAssets Inc. (MDAS) said it will buy The Broadlane Group, a Texas-based medical supply-chain management company owned mostly by private-equity firm TowerBrook Capital Partners LP, for about $850 million. The combined company will be able to have an affect on hospital costs by offering supply-chain solutions, outsourcing and workforce-management services, said MedAssets. MedAssets, which provides health-care information technology, will pay $725 million for Broadlane at closing--set for 60 to 90 days--and $125 million in January 2012. MedAssets expects to save at least $20 million in 2011 because of the deal, which it sees contributing 5 cents to 10 cents a share in adjusted per-share earnings. The company was expected to post earnings of $1.13 a share, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters. We are bringing together some of the best contract pricing in the industry, with highly complementary technology and clinical consulting expertise from both companies," said MedAssets Chairman and Chief Executive John Bardis. § Virtual Radiologic (vRad) (Minneapolis, MN), a national radiology practice and developer of radiologist workflow technology, and NightHawk Radiology Services (Coeur d'Alene, ID), a provider of radiology solutions, signed a definitive agreement to merge. vRad will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of NightHawk Radiology for $6.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $170 million. The combined company will have 325 radiologists serving nearly 2,700 healthcare facilities across all 50 states, who read approximately six million studies annually. The transaction is expected to be completed in Q1 2011, subject to customary closing conditions, including the approval of NightHawk's stockholders. § Criticare Systems Inc (Milwaukee, WI) acquired Unetixs Vascular (North Kingstown, RI), a manufacturer of physiologic vascular instruments. The acquisition of Unetixs Vascular’s detection and diagnostics products complements the existing Opto Circuits (I) Ltd product portfolio investment in Criticare System’s vital sign monitoring line and pulse oximetry sensors. Details about the agreement were not disclosed. § Omnicare Inc (Covington, KY) acquired Continuing Care Rx Inc (CCRx) (Harrisburg, PA), a privately owned institutional pharmacy provider. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. CCRx provides comprehensive pharmacy services to residents of long-term care facilities and other chronic settings in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. CCRx’s revenues for the 12 months ended June 30, 2010 were $170 million. § Correct Care Solutions, LLC (CCS) the nation’s premier correctional healthcare management company, has completed a recapitalization with Audax Group. The terms of transactions were not disclosed. Correct Care Solutions, privately-owned since its inception in 2003, is a correctional healthcare company, serving approximately 42,000 inmates in twelve states. CCS has grown exponentially since 2003 and now employs over 1,900 professionals. § Graymark Healthcare Inc (Oklahoma City, OK) signed a definitive agreement to sell substantially all of the assets of ApothecaryRx, its independent pharmacy division, to Walgreen Co (Deerfield, IL), for a total enterprise sale value of approximately $35 million including retained AR, expenses and proceeds from the liquidation of remaining ApothecaryRx assets. The sale would include all 18 ApothecaryRx stores in five states. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory conditions but is expected to close in Q4 2010. Graymark plans to refocus its efforts on its sleep apnea business and to continue to grow that segment both organically and through acquisitions. § Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”) has completed the sale of its portfolio company, Regency Hospital Company (“Regency” or the “Company”), to Select Medical Group (NYSE:SEM), a leading operator of specialty hospitals and outpatient rehabilitation clinics in the United States, for $210 million, including certain liabilities. Since its founding in 2001, Regency has grown organically through de novo development to become one of the leading providers in the long-term acute care hospital (“LTAC”) industry. Today, Regency operates 23 hospitals in nine states and generates more than $350 million of revenue. § Stryker Corp (Kalamazoo, MI) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gaymar Industries (Orchard Park, NY) for approximately $150 million in an all-cash transaction. Gaymar specializes in support surface, pressure ulcer management solutions, and temperature management solutions for the healthcare industry. § Medical Action Industries Inc (Hauppauge, NY) acquired AVID Medical Inc (Toano, VA), a provider of custom procedure trays serving the healthcare industry, for $62.5 million in cash. Medical Action expects that the acquisition will increase its ability to serve healthcare providers in acute care facilities and surgery centers. AVID reported sales of custom procedure trays of approximately $136 million during its most recent fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. § Epic MedStaff, the leading provider of pediatric home healthcare services in the state of Texas has been acquired by Webster Capital. The terms of transactions were not disclosed. Founded in 2001, Epic’s home health pediatric services are designed to provide a high quality, lower cost alternative to prolonged hospitalization for medically fragile and chronically ill children. Epic provides skilled nursing care 24/7 to seriously ill children from point of hospital discharge until reaching 21 years of age. The Company has established itself as one of the leading and fastest growing companies serving the pediatric home care market in Texas. § Medco Health Solutions Inc (Franklin Lakes, NJ) signed a definitive agreement to acquire United BioSource Corporation (UBC) (Bethesda, MD) in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $730 million. UBC is an information services business whose initiatives revolve around safety and risk management, as well as health economics and outcomes research. UBC anticipates 2010 revenue of approximately $280 million, and boasts an annual growth rate of more than 20 percent. § Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA (Bad Homburg, Germany), the parent corporation of Fresenius Medical Care North America (Waltham, MA), signed an agreement to acquire the worldwide peritoneal dialysis (PD) business of Gambro Inc (Lakewood, CO). Gambro currently serves over 4,000 PD patients in more than 25 countries, primarily in Asia-Pacific and Europe. The transaction is still subject to necessary regulatory approvals by the relevant antitrust authorities and works council consultations in some jurisdictions. The acquisition is expected to add approximately $60 million in annual revenue and is expected to be accretive to earnings in the first year. § Medtronic Inc (Minneapolis, MN) plans to acquire Osteotech Inc (Eatontown, NJ) for $123 million. Osteotech develops, manufactures and markets biologic, biomaterial and device systems for musculoskeletal surgery. Osteotech's board approved Medtronic's offer, which must still be approved by Osteotech shareholders and regulators. After the deal closes, Osteotech will become part of Medtronic's biologics business. § North Shore University Hospital, (Manhasset, NY) has acquired the Home health agency of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center. The transaction value was reported as $17MM. No other transaction details were disclosed. § RadNet Inc (Los Angeles, CA) completed its acquisition of the New Jersey operating subsidiary of Health Diagnostics (Melville, NY). In Q1 2010, RadNet entered into a letter of intent to acquire substantially all of the business of the subsidiary and as a result acquired three New Jersey facilities in Edison, Old Bridge and Green Brook. Imaging modalities include MRI, CT, PET/CT, mammography, ultrasound and X-ray. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § Water Street Healthcare Partners (Chicago, IL), a healthcare-focused private equity firm, acquired Medical Specialties Distributors, LLC (MSD) (Stoughton, MA), a provider of infusion products, supplies, biomedical services and technology solutions to the home infusion therapy market. § BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (Franklin Lakes, NJ) completed the sale of its ophthalmic systems unit to RoundTable Healthcare Partners (Lake Forest, IL) and the sale of its surgical blades product platform to one of RoundTable's portfolio companies, Aspen Surgical Products Inc (Caledonia, MI). BD also expects to complete the sale of its critical care and extended dwell catheter product platforms to RoundTable Healthcare Partners during Q4 2010. § IRIS International Inc (Chatsworth, CA) completed its acquisition of AlliedPath Inc (San Diego, CA), a private, early stage high complexity, CLIA-certified laboratory focused on oncology and molecular diagnostics. Terms of the transaction include $4.7 million in cash, with an additional earn-out of up to $1.3 million, subject to the achievement of specific sales and earnings targets over the next three years. § Meridian Bioscience Inc (Cincinnati, OH) completed its acquisition of all the outstanding capital stock of the Bioline (London, England) group of companies, which includes Bioline USA Inc (Boston, MA) and companies in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia, for $23.3 million in cash on hand. Bioline is a manufacturer and distributor of highly specialized molecular biology reagents for the life science research, biotech, pharmaceutical, and commercial diagnostic markets, with operations in Germany, Australia, and the United States. The Bioline management team will remain in place and continue to operate the Bioline group of companies.§ Covidien (Mansfield, MA) plans to acquire Somanetics Corp (Troy, MI), a medical device maker, for about $298.7 million in cash. The deal will give Covidien access to Somanetics' non-invasive patient monitor that measures blood oxygen levels. Covidien expects the deal to hurt its 2010 and 2011 earnings; however, on an adjusted basis, the deal is expected to be neutral to 2010 earnings and slightly add to 2011 earnings. The transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, 2010. § Omega Healthcare Investors Inc (Timonium, MD) announced its purchase of 63 long-term care facilities from affiliates of CapitalSource Inc for $293 million in cash. Located in 19 states, the 63 facilities have 6,607 available beds and are part of 30 in-place triple net leases among 18 operators. The 30 leases generate approximately $34 million of annualized revenue. As of March 31, 2010, Omega owned or held mortgages on 293 skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and other specialty hospitals with approximately 34,279 licensed beds (32,835 available beds) located in 32 states. These facilities are operated by 35 third-party healthcare operating companies. Additionally, Omega has two closed facilities it intends to sell. § LHC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: LHCG), a national provider of home health and hospice, announced recently that it has signed a definitive agreement with Idaho Home Health and Hospice. Founded in 1977, Idaho Home Health and Hospice is a Joint Commission Accredited home health and hospice provider with 9 locations in the state of Idaho.§ Cardinal Health Inc (Dublin, OH) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Healthcare Solutions Holding LLC, a specialty pharmaceutical company, for $517 million in cash. The agreement includes the opportunity for earn-out payments of up to $150 million over the next three years. Healthcare Solutions Holding is the parent company P4 Pathways and P4 Healthcare, as well as other subsidiaries. These businesses serve specialty care providers including physicians, pharmaceutical companies and payors by providing essential tools, services and data to improve outcomes and efficiency. The acquisition will expand Cardinal Health's capabilities in specialty pharmaceuticals, which is expected to grow at twice the rate of traditional pharmaceuticals for the next five years and exceed $100 billion in sales by 2013. Cardinal Health expects the transaction to be neutral to slightly accretive in FY 2011 and more meaningfully accretive in FY 2012 and beyond. § BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (Franklin Lakes, NJ) signed agreements to sell certain assets of its BD Medical segment, including the ophthalmic systems unit as well as the surgical blades, critical care and extended dwell catheter product platforms of the medical surgical systems unit, to RoundTable Healthcare Partners (Lake Forest, IL) and two of its portfolio companies, Argon Medical Devices Inc and Aspen Surgical Products Inc. § Pacific Pulmonary Services acquired Second Wind Respiratory Care in Plymouth Meeting PA a provider of respiratory care services to patients in their homes. § Covidien (Mansfield, MA) plans to acquire ev3 Inc (Plymouth, MN) for $2.6 billion. Covidien stated that the deal is in line with its strategy of becoming a leading partner with vascular surgeons, neurosurgeons, interventional cardiologists and interventional radiologists. The deal is expected to close by the end of July 2010 and will likely hurt Covidien's earnings in 2010 and 2011. § LHC Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:LHCG), a national provider of home health and hospice, announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement with Idaho Home Health and Hospice. Founded in 1977, Idaho Home Health and Hospice is a Joint Commission Accredited home health and hospice provider which currently serves 28 counties through 9 locations in the state of Idaho. § TIDI Products LLC (Neenah, WI) acquired Timely Medical Innovations LLC (Carlsbad, CA). Timely Medical Innovations manufactures and sells a proprietary line of disposable optical-grade, eye and facial protection products for medical markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Warrenton-based Infocus Marketing Inc., a direct marketing services company, has acquired Manassas-based Continental Services Inc. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. § Gentiva Health Services Inc. agreed to acquire Odyssey HealthCare Inc. for about $1 billion, a combination that will create the largest U.S. home-health and hospice provider. Gentiva has agreed to pay $27 a share for Odyssey, a 40% premium to Friday's closing price. Odyssey's stock has doubled the past year and was last above $27 six years ago. § The Ensign Group, Inc. announced today that an Ensign subsidiary acquired the operating assets of Horizon Home Health and Hospice, a well-regarded home health and hospice agency based in Meridian, Idaho. § Marlin Equity Partners is pleased to announce that it has acquired Informance International, Inc. (“Informance”), a leading provider of Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) software. Its software solutions are designed to help manufacturers accelerate, sustain and benchmark operational performance initiatives. The company specializes in the food & beverage, healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors and has leading blue-chip customers including Unilever, Cargill and Merck. Informance has been integrated with Solarsoft Business Systems, a Marlin portfolio company. § Serent Capital, a private equity firm focused on investing in high growth services businesses, recently announced an investment in Equinox Healthcare, Inc., a leading regional provider of home infusion therapy. Equinox provides a wide range of infusion therapy services, including anti-infective, total parenteral nutrition and immune globulin to patients primarily located in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC and Delaware. § WM Healthcare Solutions Inc, a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc (Houston, TX), purchased certain assets of MedServe Inc (Bellaire, TX) from Stericycle Inc (Lake Forest, IL). MedServe provided regulated medical waste management solutions, including on-site sharps management and on-site medical waste treatment, and waste management solutions for hazardous materials including chemical, pharmaceutical and radioactive waste until its acquisition by Stericycle in December 2009. WM Healthcare Solutions purchased MedServe's Newton, Kansas autoclave treatment facility and its transfer stations in Kansas City, Kansas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Omaha, Nebraska; and Booneville, Missouri. § The Ensign Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENSG), announced today that it has acquired Heritage Gardens Healthcare Center, a 140-bed skilled nursing facility in Carrollton, Texas, and Silver Springs Healthcare Center, a 144-bed skilled nursing facility in Houston, Texas. The acquisitions were effective May 1, 2010. § C.R. Bard Inc (Murray Hill, NJ) reached a definitive agreement to acquire SenoRx Inc (Irvine, CA) for a purchase price of $11.00 per share in cash, totaling approximately $200 million, net of cash acquired. The transaction, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, will be structured as a merger subject to the approval of SenoRx’s shareholders and the satisfaction of customary conditions, including Hart-Scott-Rodino clearance § Medtronic Inc (Minneapolis, MN) completed its $350 million acquisition of Invatec (Roncadelle, Italy), which makes medical technologies for the interventional treatment of cardiovascular disease. Additional payments of up to $150 million are contingent on Invatec’s meeting of certain milestones. The deal also includes two affiliated companies, Fogazzi, the provider of polymer technology to Invatec, and Krauth Cardiovascular, an exclusive distributor of Invatec products in Germany. § Activestyle, a Riverside Company portfolio company, acquired Advocate Medical Services in Tampa, Fl. A provider of consumable medical products including catheters, incontinence and ostomy products. § Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, NY) acquired the assets of TRIMLINE Medical Products Corporation (Branchburg, NJ), a manufacturer of a full range of disposable blood pressure cuffs and accessories as well as aneroid gauges and stethoscopes. The transition from TRIMLINE Medical Products Corporation to Welch Allyn is expected to begin immediately and be completed by the end of 2010. TRIMLINE’s 152 employees will be retained during the transition period, as product manufacturing is absorbed into Welch Allyn’s own manufacturing sites in Skaneateles Falls, New York, and Tijuana, Mexico. Financial terms were not disclosed. § Mesa Laboratories Inc (Lakewood, CO), a manufacturer of electronic instruments and disposables, announced the acquisition of SGM Biotech Inc (Bozeman, MT), a manufacturer of biological indicator (BI) products. Mesa Labs acquired all of the outstanding shares of SGM for approximately $12 million in cash, subject to certain net asset adjustments. In conjunction with the deal, Mesa will also be purchasing the building in Bozeman currently occupied by SGM. By realizing manufacturing synergies between SGM and Mesa's existing biological indicator (BI) division, the acquisition is expected to be accretive on both a cash and GAAP basis in subsequent fiscal years. § Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”) today announced the sale of its portfolio company, Hospitalists Management Group (“HMG” or the “Company”), to AEA Investors LP, a global private equity firm. Since WCP acquired the business in 2006, HMG has nearly quadrupled its revenue and cash flow, making it one of the largest and fastest-growing hospitalist companies in the U.S. Having achieved its five-year financial and operational investment objectives in just over three years, WCP determined it was an appropriate time to pursue a sale of the business to realize the substantial value that had been created. WCP believes HMG is well-positioned to build upon its impressive growth trajectory and continue to deliver outstanding returns for its investors. Accordingly, WCP elected to rollover a portion of its sale proceeds to invest alongside AEA Investors and HMG management. § Kindred Healthcare Inc. of Louisville, Ky., has purchased the Stratford Commons nursing facility in Glenwillow for $13.6 million. The health care services company bought Stratford Commons from a local owner, Glenwillow Healthcare LLC, in a deal that closed April 1. The facility, at 7000 Cochran Road, comprises 105 beds in a skilled-nursing facility and 68 assisted-living apartments. § Synergetics USA Inc (O’Fallon, MO) completed the sale of certain surgical equipment assets to Stryker Corp (Kalamazoo, MI). Synergetics, which designs, manufactures, and markets microsurgical instruments for ophthalmic and neurosurgical applications, will receive between $2.5 million and $3 million in proceeds from the transactions once all inventory transfers are completed. The agreement includes the sale of Synergetics’ accounts receivable, open sales orders, inventory and certain intellectual property related to the Omni product line. § Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMED), one of America's leading home health and hospice companies, today announced that it has acquired a hospice agency located in Killen, Alabama, a Certificate of Need state, from Bluewater Healthcare Inc. The agency covers seven counties in northwest Alabama, six which are new to Amedisys. Bluewater had annualized revenue of $900,000 in 2009. The acquisition is not expected to add materially to Amedisys earnings in 2010. § Management Health Solutions Inc (MHS) (Fairfield, CT), a provider of clinical inventory solutions, acquired AtPar Inc (Lebanon, NH), a developer of mobile supply chain software. The acquisition will help to advance MHS’s clinical inventory management solution § LHC Group, Inc. one of the largest providers of home health services in the United States, completed its previously announced acquisition of 100% of the assets of Salem Hospital Home Care located in Salem, Oregon. § War Memorial Hospital (Berkeley Springs, WV) has been acquired by Valley Health Systems (Winchester, VA) for $2.75 million. Plans are underway to replace the existing facility. Groundbreaking for the new, $30 million hospital is set for June 4, 2010, and it should be open in April 2012. § Medpace, a privately held, global, full-service clinical research organization (CRO) announced that it has acquired Symbios Clinical, a CRO dedicated to medical device clinical trials with expertise in pre-market, post-approval and post-market / outcomes trials. Symbios supports the full spectrum of medical device trials. § USA Drug of Pine Bluff announced that it was selling its 17 Memphis area Super-D and Ike's stores to Walgreens of Deerfield, Ill., for an undisclosed amount. § Walgreen Co. and New York-based drugstore chain Duane Reade Holdings, Inc. announced a definitive agreement under which Walgreens will acquire Duane Reade from affiliates of Oak Hill Capital Partners in a cash transaction for a total enterprise value of $1.075 billion, which includes the assumption of debt. § Cerner Corporation (Kansas City, MO) reached an agreement to acquire IMC Health Care Inc (Jacksonville, FL), a provider of employer sponsored on-site health centers. The deal will expand Cerner's employer health initiatives, such as on-site employer health centers, pharmacies and wellness programs. IMC Health Care currently serves 15 employer clients and operates 23 employee health centers across the United States. The acquisition is expected to close in Q1 2010 and will not have a material impact on Cerner's 2010 financial results. § Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (Nasdaq: GTIV), a leading provider of comprehensive home health services, announced today that it has sold its businesses providing respiratory therapy and home medical equipment, and infusion therapy to a subsidiary of Lincare Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCR) in an all-cash transaction. Included in the transaction are approximately forty locations in seven states providing respiratory/HME and/or infusion therapy. Moving forward, Gentiva's business will consist primarily of home health and hospice services targeted to the senior population. § Senior Care Centers of America, based in Trevose, PA, acquired Valley Crest Adult Day Care of Wilkes Barre, PA. Senior Care Centers of America is the premier provider of adult day health services in the United States with a total of 21 centers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Mississippi. § Diabetes device maker Home Diagnostics Inc. (HDI) has agreed to a $215 million buyout from Japanese medical device maker Nipro, it announced Wednesday. The deal will allow Nipro to expand its diabetes-related business. § Restorative Health Care of San Antonio (RHC) acquired all shares of Homestyle Specialty Nursing Care, Inc of Corpus Christi in a cash transaction. Homestyle Specialty Nursing Care, Inc. is a Medicare certified home health agency licensed to operate in 21 counties of the Texas gulf coast. § Diabetes device maker Home Diagnostics Inc. (HDI) has agreed to a $215 million buyout from Japanese medical device maker Nipro. The deal will allow Nipro to expand its diabetes-related business. § Quality Systems Inc (QSI) (Irvine, CA), a provider of healthcare information systems and connectivity solutions, entered into an agreement to acquire Opus Healthcare Solutions Inc (Austin, TX). The acquisition will be integrated with the assets of Sphere Health Systems Inc, which were acquired in August 2009. Both companies are developers of software and services for the inpatient market and will become part of NextGen Healthcare Information Systems (Horsham, PA), QSI’s wholly owned subsidiary § The assets of Verify Solutions were acquired by HMS Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:HMSY), a leader in coordination of benefits and program integrity services for government healthcare programs. The acquisition allows HMS to provide services in the employer-based market with valuable new services that fit well with their mission to help control healthcare costs.” § Linden LLC (Chicago, IL), a healthcare private equity firm, acquired Hycor Biomedical Inc (Garden Grove, CA) from Agilent Technologies (Santa Clara, CA). Hycor develops, manufactures and markets in vitro diagnostic products for the global allergy, autoimmune and urinalysis markets. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. § BioScrip, Inc. announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Critical Homecare Solutions (“CHS”), a leading provider of home infusion and home health agency services to patients suffering from chronic and acute medical conditions. Under the terms of the transaction, BioScrip will pay an aggregate of $343.2 million through a combination of cash and stock. In addition, the Company will also issue 3.40 million warrants with a $10.00 exercise price and five-year term to CHS shareholders. The combination of BioScrip and CHS will create an industry leading provider consisting of specialty pharmacy, home infusion and home health care services from 110 locations nationwide. § Medco Health Solutions Inc (Franklin Lakes, NJ) acquired genetic testing services company DNA Direct (San Francisco, CA), a privately held company. DNA Direct provides services to physicians, health insurance companies and patients to help improve understanding of genetic medicine and which tests may or may not be appropriate for particular patients. § HealthTech Holdings Inc (Nashville, TN), a healthcare technology holding company and parent of Healthcare Management Systems Inc® (HMS), acquired MEDHOST (Addison, TX), a provider of emergency department information systems. The companies will develop an integrated emergency department system for the HMS enterprise-wide solution designed for community hospitals. MEDHOST will continue to provide highly targeted and specialized emergency department systems for large community and tertiary hospitals. § WPI Holdings d/b/a Woodbury Products (“Woodbury”), a portfolio company of HealthEdge Investment Partners, LLC (“HealthEdge”), announced today that it has completed the acquisition of two companies, the Continence Connection and DHP Home Delivery. Woodbury is a direct to consumer distributor of high quality incontinence and other related healthcare products.§ Univita Health, an organization focused on providing the full range of services and support needed to enable a home-centered approach to independent aging, announced the acquisition of leading home care provider Atenda Healthcare Solutions, Inc. and its affiliated companies, including Florida Home Medical Equipment, Inc. § ActivStyle, a Riverside Co. portfolio company focused on incontinence products, has acquired Tampa, Fla.-based Advocate Medical Services, which provides catheters, incontinence and ostomy products in Florida and Texas. According to a release, Advocate’s core product line is intermittent catheters, and the company primarily serves neurogenic bladder patients who often suffer from spinal cord injuries or neural tube defects, and who have a lifelong need for catheters and related medical supplies. § Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC (CHS) (Chicago, IL) announced the sale of Suture Express (Lenexa, KS), a portfolio investment of CHS Private Equity V LP and Linden LLC, to Diamond Castle Partners (New York, NY), a private equity firm. Suture Express is a distributor of sutures, endo-mechanical products and other disposable medical and surgical products. CHS led the investment in Suture Express in August 2006 and partnered with Linden in a buyout from the company's founders. § Walgreen Co (Deerfield, IL) announced its intent to acquire the pharmacy business and other certain assets of The Katz Group dba Snyder's Drug Stores (Minnetonka, MN). Walgreen plans to close some of Snyder's 25 locations and operate the remaining stores under the Walgreen moniker. Financial terms were not disclosed. § Advantage RN has agreed to acquire TeamStaff Rx, TeamStaff’s travel nurse and allied healthcare staffing division. The divestiture will allow TeamStaff to focus on its core Government Solutions business. Advantage RN is a Cincinnati-based healthcare staffing firm which ranked 16th on Staffing Industry Analysts’ list of fastest growing U.S. staffing firms. § Sarnova has acquired Metropolitian Medical and Blue Ridge Medical in separate transactions. Sarnova, Inc., the nation's leading specialty distributor of health care products in the emergency medical services (EMS) and respiratory markets, announced today that it has acquired Metropolitan Medical, Inc. Metropolitan Medical is a medical products supplier serving the mid-Atlantic region. Sarnova plans to merge Metropolitan Medical with its Tri-anim brand, which specializes in respiratory and anesthesia products for the acute care market. § Quidel Corp (San Diego, CA) signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Diagnostic Hybrids Inc (Athens, OH) for approximately $130 million in cash. Diagnostic Hybrids manufactures and commercializes direct fluorescent in vitro diagnostic assays used in hospital and reference laboratories for a variety of diseases, including viral respiratory infections, herpes, Chlamydia and other viral infections, and thyroid diseases. Quidel plans to operate Diagnostic Hybrids as a separate subsidiary. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. § Mediware Information Systems Inc (Lenexa, KS) finalized its acquisitions of Healthcare Automation Inc (HAI) and Advantage Reimbursement Inc (ARI), which provide software and outsourcing solutions for home health providers. The two companies were owned by a single ownership group based in Cranston, Rhode Island and Andover, Massachusetts, respectively. The purchase included a cash payment of $5.5 million, and an additional earnout payment of up to $1.5 million is possible based on an annual performance plan. § Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (New Brunswick, NJ) plans to acquire Acclarent Inc (Menlo Park, CA) for $785 million in cash. Acclarent is a provider of sinus-surgery technology. The deal, which is expected to close in Q1 2010, will depress J&J's 2010 earnings by three to four cents per share. § Abbott (Abbott Park, IL) signed a definitive agreement to acquire STARLIMS Technologies Ltd (Hollywood, FL), a provider of laboratory information management systems, for approximately $123 million in cash. Abbott will integrate STARLIMS into its existing portfolio of laboratory information management products, and will continue to support and expand the non-clinical market segments currently served by STARLIMS. STARLIMS offers advanced web-based applications to help laboratories store, retrieve and analyze clinical, managerial and administrative data. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2010. § Roper Industries Inc (Sarasota, FL), which provides engineered products and solutions for a broad customer base in end-markets including water, energy, transportation, education and healthcare, completed its acquisition of Verathon Inc (Bothell, WA), a provider of proprietary medical devices. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Microsoft Corp (Redmond, WA) plans to acquire Sentillion Inc (Andover, MA), a privately held company that specializes in software for the healthcare industry. Sentillion will continue to sell and support its products to new and existing customers, and will remain at its corporate headquarters in Andover, Massachusetts. Microsoft will invest in the long-term evolution of the combined portfolio of Sentillion and Microsoft health solutions. The acquisition is expected to close in early 2010. Financial terms were not disclosed. § Healthcare Trust of America Inc (Scottsdale, AZ) entered an agreement to acquire 52,300-square-ft Dallas LTAC Hospital (Dallas, TX) for approximately $27.35 million from a group of local physicians and Gulf States Health Services Inc (Dallas, TX). RehabCare Group (St. Louis, MO) manages the facility. Additional details were not disclosed. § Cortec Group, the New York-based private equity firm, has bought a majority stake in 180 Medical Inc., an Oklahoma City-based maker of single-use urologic catheters. Madison Capital Funding led the senior loan syndicate; terms of the transaction were not disclosed. § Hospira (Lake Forest, IL), a provider of clinical information and medication delivery technologies, acquired TheraDoc (Salt Lake City, UT), a clinical informatics company that develops hospital surveillance systems. Hospira will add TheraDoc's two leading products, Infection Control Assistant™ and Antibiotic Assistant™, to its expanding portfolio of medication safety and infection management products. As part of the agreement, Hospira acquired additional assets related to the TheraDoc business, including the headquarters in Salt Lake City, and the TheraDoc employees are now a part of Hospira. Financial terms were not disclosed. § Stryker Corp (Kalamazoo, MI) signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Ascent Healthcare Solutions (Phoenix, AZ), which reprocesses and remanufactures medical devices, for $525 million in an all cash transaction. Closing is conditioned on the expiration or termination of all applicable waiting periods pursuant to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions. The board of directors of Stryker and the board of directors and shareholders of Ascent Healthcare Solutions have approved the transaction. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2009, and is expected to be neutral to Stryker’s 2010 earnings per share and accretive thereafter. § Swissray International Inc (East Brunswick, NJ), a manufacturer of direct digital Radiography (ddR) systems, announced that its operations have been acquired by a private Swiss Investor with a long term view towards growing Swissray's medical imaging brand. The acquisition included all assets and intellectual property, as well as contracts and inventory. Alex Rosenzweig was named as the company's new chairman. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § RehabCare Group (St Louis, MO) completed its previously-announced, $570 million acquisition of Triumph HealthCare Corp (Houston, TX). Triumph Healthcare currently operates 20 LTACHs in seven states, with two hospitals scheduled to open by mid-2010. The combined organization has over 1,280 locations in 41 states, and is now the fourth largest post-acute hospital operator and the third largest LTACH provider in the U.S. Brock Hardaway, Triumph HealthCare president and COO, will lead the LTACH segment. He will report to Kevin Gross, RehabCare SVP of hospital operations. The merger was funded through a combination of committed bank financing, the net proceeds of the equity offering that closed on November 18, 2009, and cash on hand. The new company closed on a new senior secured credit facility consisting of a $450.0 million term loan B facility and a $125.0 million revolving credit facility. § Sarnova, a specialty distributor of healthcare products in the emergency medical services (EMS) and respiratory and markets comprised of Bound Tree Medical (Dublin, OH) and Tri-anim Health Services Inc (Sylmar, CA), acquired Metropolitan Medical Inc (Winchester, VA). Metropolitan Medical is a medical products supplier serving the mid-Atlantic region. Sarnova plans to merge Metropolitan Medical with its Tri-anim Health Services brand, which specializes in respiratory and anesthesia products for the acute care market. Terms were not disclosed. § Delaware Valley Surgical Supply (DVSS) (Marcus Hook, PA) completed its acquisition of the assets of the business formerly conducted by Medical Supply Corporation of New Jersey Inc. The independent distributor sold med/surg supplies and equipment throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. DVSS is an independent distributor of med/surg supplies and equipment to physician offices in the Mid Atlantic States. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc (Bethesda, MD) acquired Creative Orthotics & Prosthetics Inc (Binghamton, NY), Custom Orthopedics of Wyoming (Casper, WY) and certain orthotics and prosthetics assets from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA). These acquisitions add patient care centers to existing markets in New York, Wyoming and Pennsylvania. Hanger owns and operates 671 patient care centers in 45 states and the District of Columbia. § Covidien (Mansfield, MA) completed the sale of its sleep diagnostics assets to Embla Systems (Broomfield, CO). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The sale included several products sold under the Sandman™ brand. The sale is consistent with Covidien’s strategy to streamline its portfolio and reallocate resources to its faster-growing, higher-margin businesses. § Madison Heights-based Residential Home Health, a home care services company, has acquired Edward Home Care from Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill. Edward Home Care has provided home care services in the southwest suburbs of Chicago for 14 years. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Edward Hospital will retain a minority interest in the Illinois operation. § Spire Corp. of Bedford, MA, said today it is divesting its hemodialysis catheter business in order to focus exclusively on making equipment for solar photovoltaic module manufacturing. Bard Access Systems is buying the catheter division. § Medline Industries Inc (Mundelein, IL) signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business and assets of SunChoice Europe Limited (Warrington, England) from Southern Cross Healthcare Group. SunChoice supplies incontinence, cleaning, janitorial, laundry, infection control, medical consumables, uniforms and patient handling equipment to over 900 nursing homes in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Under the terms of the agreement, approximately 46 employees will join Medline and the SunChoice name will be retired. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. § RG Respiratory, a provider of respiratory products and medications including oxygen and sleep related products was acquired in a private transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. § Abbott Laboratories Inc (Abbott Park, IL) plans to acquire Visiogen Inc (Irvine, CA) for $400 million in cash. The move will strengthen Abbott's ophthalmic portfolio and provide the company the next-generation accommodating intraocular lens technology to cure presbyopia for cataract patients. Intraocular lenses are implanted in a patient's eye after the removal of the natural lens that has become clouded by a cataract. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter and will not impact Abbott's earnings outlook for 2009. § Walgreen Co acquired Rx Solutions Inc, a Lombard, IL- based provider of specialty pharmaceutical services, from PGMI Inc. § Healthland (Glenwood, MN), a provider of IT solutions to small community and critical access hospitals, completed its acquisition of American Healthnet (AHN) (Omaha, NE). This is Healthland's second acquisition in a year. § Residential Home Health, a home care services company, has acquired Edward Home Care from Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill. Edward Home Care has provided home care services in the southwest suburbs of Chicago for 14 years. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Edward Hospital will retain a minority interest in the Illinois operation. § IntriCon Corporation (St. Paul, MN), a designer, developer, manufacturer and distributor of body-worn medical and electronics devices, acquired Datrix Inc (Escondido, CA) for approximately $2.5 million. Datrix is a supplier of cardiac diagnostic monitoring (CDM) devices, sold to leading medical OEMs. The total purchase price consists of $1.225 million cash paid at closing; a $1.05 million subordinated note payable over three years; and 75,000 shares of IntriCon common stock. § Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE:OCR), a leading provider of pharmaceutical care for the elderly, announced the acquisition of specialty pharmaceutical services provider, Advanced Care Scripts, Inc. Based on the quarter ended March 31, 2008, Advanced Care Scripts’ revenues are running at an annualized rate of approximately $212 million. The transaction is expected to be modestly accretive to Omnicare’s earnings in 2008, with accretion expected to increase in 2009 and beyond. § Cardinal Health Inc's (Dublin, OH) board of directors approved the spinoff of CareFusion Corporation through a pro rata distribution of at least 80 percent of the shares of CareFusion common stock to Cardinal Health shareholders, with Cardinal Health retaining the remaining shares. The board concluded that, as separate companies, Cardinal and CareFusion will benefit from enhanced management focus and sharper strategic vision, as well as improved opportunities to make investments in their respective growth areas. § Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”) announced that its portfolio company, CarePoint Partners (“CarePoint”), has acquired The Infusion Network of Louisiana, Inc. d.b.a. HCS Infusion Network (“HCS Infusion Network”), a company owned by Praxair Healthcare Services, Inc. (“PHS”). Based in Baton Rouge, HCS Infusion Network provides a full array of infusion services at home and throughout Louisiana via its network of six ambulatory infusion centers. HCS Infusion Network will operate under the CarePoint Partners name with the same team of infusion professionals. § ICU Medical Inc (San Clemente, CA), a low-cost manufacturer of safe medical connectors, custom medical products and critical care devices, entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the commercial rights and physical assets of Hospira Inc's (Lake Forest, IL) critical care product line for approximately $35 million in cash. The company has been manufacturing the majority of Hospira's critical care offerings for over four years. The deal creates a long-term growth opportunity for ICU Medical and positions the company to improve gross margins and earnings by controlling all aspects of the critical care product line.
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Arcadia Resources, Inc. a leading provider of home care, medical staffing, and
pharmacy services under the Arcadia HealthCare(SM) brand, today announced
the sale of its JASCORP retail pharmacy management software business.
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Doctor Diabetic Supply, Inc., one of the nation's leading distributors of diabetic
testing supplies and related products, is proud to announce that it has
acquired Diabetes Source Rx, a
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Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive
agreement to acquire privately held Arrow Group for
§ HealthTronics Inc (Austin, TX) plans to acquire Endocare Inc (Irvine, CA) for about $16 million. Endocare makes medical devices for the treatment of prostate cancer. § SonoSite Inc (Bothell, WA) signed an agreement to acquire CardioDynamics International Corporation (San Diego, CA) in exchange for $1.35 per share in cash. The aggregate transaction value will be approximately $10.0 million, or $12.3 million net of cash and debt. The acquisition is part of a strategic initiative that moves SonoSite forward toward its goal of adding clinical value and reducing healthcare system costs in cardiovascular disease management. § CVS Caremark (Woonsocket, RI) acquired 11 Kerr Drug Stores in Charleston, South Carolina, seven of which will remain open under the CVS banner. The remaining four locations will be closed and consolidated into nearby CVS stores. CVS currently has more than 180 stores in South Carolina, as well as more than 280 stores in North Carolina. Twenty-three of its stores are located in the Charleston market. § Premier Inc (Charlotte, NC) acquired Phase 2 Consulting (P2C) (Salt Lake City, UT), a provider of consulting services to hospitals and health systems and a division of RehabCare Group (St. Louis, MO). The deal will complement Premier Consulting Solutions (PCS), and provide resources to help meet the growing demand for PCS’ services. In 2008, PCS added more than 60 new customers, and 225 new customer engagements. P2C offers expertise and consulting capabilities in the areas of revenue cycle improvement, including RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor) readiness and charge capture, strategic planning and service line analysis. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § ev3 Inc (Plymouth, MN) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Chestnut Medical Technologies Inc (Menlo Park, CA), a privately held company focused on developing minimally invasive therapies for interventional neuroradiology. ev3 will acquire 100 percent of the equity interests of Chestnut for total upfront consideration of $75 million paid upon closing, 30 to 40 percent of which is payable in cash, with the remaining portion payable in ev3 common stock. An additional milestone-based contingent payment of up to $75 million is payable in a combination of cash and ev3 common stock upon the receipt of FDA (Rockville, MD) premarket approval of the Pipeline device. ev3 will finance the upfront cash payment due upon closing through cash on hand. § Microsoft Corp signed an agreement with Merck & Co Inc (Whitehouse Station, NJ) to acquire certain assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, a business unit of Rosetta Inpharmatics LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck & Co. Microsoft will be able to incorporate genetic, genomic, metabolomic and proteomics data management software into the Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences platform for enhanced translational research capabilities. The deal will close at the end of June 2009. § Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc (Bethesda, MD) acquired Northwest Prosthetic & Orthotic Clinic (Seattle, WA) and Inline Orthotic and Prosthetic Systems (La Mesa, CA), adding patient care centers to existing markets in Washington and California. Additional details were not disclosed. Hanger Orthopedic Group is a provider of orthotic and prosthetic patient care services. Hanger is the market leader in the U.S., owning and operating 675 patient care centers in 45 states and the District of Columbia. § Express Scripts (Maryland Heights, MO) plans to acquire WellPoint Inc's (Indianapolis, IN) NextRx subsidiary in the second half of 2009 after it completed the required antitrust waiting period. Express Scripts expects to use a mixture of cash and up to $1.4 billion of its common stock to close on the $4.67 billion deal that will add $1 billion to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) once it is fully integrated. § Air Products (Allentown, PA) sold three of its U.S. healthcare businesses to Landauer-Metropolitan Inc (LMI) (Mount Vernon, NY), the largest provider of durable medical equipment, respiratory and infusion services in the northeast. The sale includes Air Products' ownership interests in certain of the companies previously operated as part of the Air Products Healthcare LLC Group, namely Genox Homecare, serving Connecticut; Mid-Atlantic Healthcare, serving Maryland, Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia; and Young's Medical Equipment, serving eastern and central Pennsylvania and New Jersey. These businesses included 220 employees, 15 locations and more than 36,000 patients. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Air Products expects to sell its remaining U.S. healthcare businesses by the end of its fiscal year in September 2009. § Air Products (Allentown, PA) sold all of its U.S. home infusion therapy services business and some elements of its respiratory and home medical equipment business to OptionCare Enterprises Inc, a subsidiary of Walgreen Co (Deerfield, IL). The deal includes Air Products' ownership interests in certain companies previously operated as part of the Air Products Healthcare LLC Group, including the home infusion therapy business of American Homecare Supply, Georgia (serving Atlanta and northern Georgia); Ultra Care and Dependicare (Chicago metropolitan area); Rx Pharmacy Services and Mosso's Medical Supply Company (western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh metropolitan area); Collins I.V. Care (Connecticut); and Air Products Healthcare Pharmacy (Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area and southern New Jersey). § WM Healthcare Solutions Inc (WMHS), a subsidiary of Waste Management Inc (Houston, TX), purchased substantially all of the assets of PharmEcology® Associates LLC (Milwaukee, WI), which provides pharmaceutical waste management consulting services to the U.S. healthcare industry through seminars, on-site risk assessments, and other custom consulting services, in addition to the PharmE® Waste Wizard and PharmE® Inventory Analysis. The deal is part of Waste Management’s strategy to expand its healthcare waste disposal services offered to hospitals and healthcare facilities. § Medical Specialties Distributors (Stoughton MA) acquired Innovative Medical Systems (Atlanta, GA), a distributor of infusion products, for an undisclosed price. Medical Specialties intends to combine its national scale supply channel with Innovative Medical Systems’ expertise in infection control and oncology in the southeast. Innovative Medical's founder and president, Chris Good, will become president of Medical Specialties' Outpatient Infusion Systems, a provider of ambulatory infusion products to acute care and alternate site facilities. § Express Scripts (Maryland Heights, MO) signed a definitive agreement with WellPoint Inc (Indianapolis, IN) to acquire WellPoint's NextRx (Bothell, WA) PBM subsidiaries for $4.7 billion. Under the agreement, Express Scripts will provide its services to WellPoint thought a 10-year contract. NextRx' services will be provided through Express Scripts’ platform and products. WellPoint will retain control of medical policy, formulary and integrated disease management. The move is expected to allow both companies to provide more integrated and cost-effective medical and drug benefits to members. Subject to customary closing conditions, the deal is slated to close in the second half of 2009. § DiaMed USA, LLC (Canton, OH) acquired Caldwell-Bloor (Mansfield, OH) for undisclosed financial terms. This acquisition is the latest in DiaMed's strategic growth moves. In 2008 DiaMed USA merged with the physician division of Community Surgical Supply (Toms River, NJ) and has expanded its business to include distribution facilities in OH, TN and NJ. DiaMed USA offers a full-range of high quality medical equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals to some of the largest physician practices throughout the Midwest and East Coast. DiaMed is a member of National Distribution & Contracting (NDC) (Nashville, TN), has developed nationwide purchasing power and offers ProAdvantage, a high quality private label, at lower costs. § Merit Medical Sciences Inc.(South Jordan, UT) closed on acquisitions of respiratory stent maker Alveolus Inc. (Charlotte, NC) and two products from Biosearch Medical Products Inc. (Somerville, NJ). Merit paid a total of $20.6 million in the deals including about $19 million for Alveolus, which makes stents used in surgeries on the esophagus, parts of the respiratory system, and the bile system. The two Biosearch products are intended for the gastroenterology market. Alveolus' revenue is estimated at at about $8.2 million over the last 12 months. It estimated that the worldwide market for Alveolus' products is worth more than $200 million.§ Henry Schein Inc (Melville, NY) announced the acquisition of Ortho Organizers (Carlsbad, CA), a full-line manufacturer and distributor of orthodontics products. Ortho Organizers has 20 sales representatives and had approximately $30 million in domestic and international sales in 2008. Ortho Organizers executives, including President and CEO George Guttroff, will join Henry Schein in developing its orthodontics platform. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Henry Schein’s 2009 financial results. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. § Merck & Co Inc (Whitehouse Station, NJ) and Schering-Plough Corp (Kenilworth, NJ) announced plans to merge in a $41.1 billion cash-and-stock transaction. If the merger is completed, Merck Chairman and CEO Richard T Clark will oversee the combined company, which will be called Merck, and three Schering-Plough board members will join Merck's board. As currently structured, 44% of the deal will be cash, with $9.8 billion coming from existing balances and $8.5 billion from committed financing from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Schering-Plough is expected to "modestly" add to Merck's earnings, excluding charges related to the deal, in the first year after its completion and "significantly" thereafter. The parties expect the merger to result in $3.5 billion a year in cost savings beyond 2011. This merger announcement follows six weeks after rivals Pfizer Inc (New York, NY) and Wyeth (Madison, NJ) announced plans to merge. § Zoll Medical (Chelmsford, MA), through a wholly owned subsidiary, announced it will purchase Alsius (Irvine, CA) and all the assets constituting Alsius's intravascular temperature management device business, for approximately $12 million. The acquisition of the hypothermia technology and products now being sold by Alsius, in combination with Zoll's 2007 purchase of assets from Radiant Medical, Inc.(Redwood City, CA), is expected to make Zoll a leader in the accurate, easy-to-use and cost-effective control of body temperature in critical care patients. Zoll plans to consolidate the operations of the acquired business at its facilities in Sunnyvale, CA. § OptionCare of Northeast Ohio an infusion and specialty pharmacy company was acquired by CarePoint Partners, a portfolio company of Waud Capital.§ Baxa Corporation (Englewood, CO) acquired ForHealth Technologies Inc (Daytona Beach, FL), a healthcare robotics and software company, to sharpen its focus on health system pharmacy automation and IV room productivity. The acquisition adds ForHealth's IntelliFill i.v.® and IntelliFlowRx™ to Baxa's offering of products for pharmacy operations management. IntelliFill i.v. is a high-speed robotic system for preparing intravenous doses. IntelliFlowRx IV Room Workflow Manager reduces drug costs and waste, and improves accuracy and efficiencies in manual IV compounding. ForHealth will continue to operate from its U.S. headquarters in Daytona Beach, FL. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.§ AMICAS Inc (Boston, MA) entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Emageon Inc (Birmingham, AL), a provider of technology solutions for hospitals and healthcare networks. A subsidiary of AMICAS will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Emageon common stock for $1.82 per share in cash, for a total of approximately $39 million. § Merit Medical Systems Inc (South Jordan, UT) signed a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Alveolus Inc (Charlotte, NC), which produces non-vascular interventional stents used for esophageal, tracheobronchial, and biliary stenting procedures. The purchase price is approximately $19 million, subject to post-closing adjustments, and the Alveolus assets consist primarily of an intellectual property portfolio, inventory, receivables and manufacturing equipment. Merit will fund the purchase from its existing cash reserves and will form a new business unit to focus on the newly-acquired products and opportunities. § Medtronic Inc (Minneapolis, MN), through an affiliated entity, completed its $225 million acquisition of Ablation Frontiers Inc (Carlsbad, CA), a provider of products that utilize new minimally invasive catheter-based ablation technologies that do not require 3-D imaging, capital equipment or specialized staff training. The transaction includes an initial payment of $225 million plus potential additional payments contingent upon achievement of certain clinical milestones. The deal is part of Medtronic’s efforts to expand its atrial fibrillation solutions business. § Odyssey HealthCare, Inc. announced that it has acquired the Flint, Michigan-based Avalon Hospice program, expanding Odyssey’s geographic coverage northward into Genesee and surrounding counties. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on earnings in 2009. § Nurse Assist Incorporated (Fort Worth, TX), which designs and manufactures proprietary medical devices used in all areas of healthcare, acquired Primary Care Solutions Incorporated (Zephyrhills, FL). The acquisition includes two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities that will allow Nurse Assist to serve the global healthcare market with worldwide distribution. § Escalon Medical Corp (Wayne, PA) completed its acquisition of the hematology business of Biocode Hycel, the French subsidiary of Immunodiagnostic Systems plc (Fountain Hills, AZ), for Euro 4,200,000. Biocode Hycel will retain its name and will continue to operate near Rennes, France. It will be vertically integrated into Escalon's clinical diagnostics business and its growing portfolio of brands. The acquired business had 2008 annual revenues of approximately $5.8 million. § Owens & Minor Inc (Richmond, VA) signed a definitive agreement to sell certain assets of its direct-to-consumer diabetes supply business to Liberty Healthcare Group Inc (Bala Cynwyd, PA) for $63 million in cash. The assets include patient data and intellectual property. Owens & Minor will retain the remaining assets and liabilities, including accounts receivable. The deal is expected to close in early January 2009.§ West Branch Medical (Brookhaven, PA) merged with Waltec Medical under a deal that will provide customers with an enhanced portfolio of products and greater operational efficiencies. The combined entity will maintain the West Branch Medical name. West Branch Medical is a specialty sales and marketing organization that offers a complete portfolio of products designed to meet the unique product needs of the maternal child health market. § Nihon Kohden America Inc (Foothill Ranch, CA) acquired a 100 percent share of Neurotronics Incorporated (Gainesville, FL), which became a subsidiary of Nihon Kohden on December 31, 2008. Neurotronics develops, sells and services a sleep data management suite of programs, including Polysmith™ DMS, a sleep brain wave analysis program. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. § Johnson & Johnson (J&J) (New Brunswick, NJ) plans to acquire Mentor Corporation (§ Principle Pharmacy Group bought Omni Healthcare, a provider of home infusion, DME and respiratory therapy, the companies announced last week. The deal will allow Principle, a management and consulting company, to move directly into the home health industry. It also operates the Memphis Specialty Clinic, which compounds medications for hospitals and home patients. The company plans to expand further into the DME and respiratory markets, along with extending pharmacy services to long-term care facilities. § The Semperit Group (Clearwater, FL) completed its acquisition of Fenix Comercio Exterior Ltda, a Brazilian sales and distribution company for medical gloves. The company previously worked with Sempermed® as a sales and distribution partner for examination gloves. The deal will allow Semperit to further expand its market share in Brazil, and comprehensively penetrate the growth region of South America. § Medical Service Company has acquired Marietta-based Pioneer Home Medical, the company announced Nov. 3. The deal allows Medical Service Company to expand into the Ohio counties of Athens, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Nobel and Washington, and several northern West Virginia counties. This is the third acquisition made by Medical Service Company in the last year and a half. § Medline Industries acquired the Guardian North and South American walking aids and bath safety business from Sunrise Medical. “The acquisition of the Guardian line marks a significant step forward in the growth and value-added development of our Durable Medical Equipment division,” said Dave Jacobs, president of the Medline division. In addition to bolstering Medline’s competitive position in the marketplace, Jacobs said, the acquisition broadens Medline’s portfolio of mobility products, which currently includes crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, bedside commodes and bath safety products. Already one of the largest providers of DME to the hospital, home care and long-term care industries, Medline has also made three other strategic acquisitions over the last few months including Carrington wound care division from DelSite, Chester Labs, a manufacturer of liquid products for personal care, infection control and Morris Latex Products, which gives the company a bigger share of the disposable natural market and synthetic anesthesia breathing bag market. § LivHOME Inc (Los Angeles, CA) acquired the assets of AllianceCare's (Boynton Beach, FL) private duty businesses in Arlington, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Silver Springs, Maryland. The acquired assets include a combination of at-home and facility-based senior-care operations. The acquisition is the third for LivHOME in 2008 and it’s seventh since the beginning of 2007. Financial terms were not disclosed. § Sherrick Drug & Medical has announced the sale of its pharmacy and durable medical equipment to Wear Drug. After the deal is finalized in early November, Wear will merge the two pharmacies to create a larger pharmacy in its County Market store, Wear's location since 2006. The DME portion of the Sherrick business will stay in its present location but will be renamed MORE (Mobility Oxygen & Rehabilitation Equipment) Medical. § LHC Group (Lafayette, LA) entered into a definitive Stock Purchase Agreement to acquire 100 percent of the outstanding capital stock of HomeCall Inc (Frederick, MD). HomeCall has 12 locations throughout Maryland, and its service area includes 19 counties. The company had net revenue for the most recent 12 months of approximately $15.6 million. The deal expands LHC Group’s geographic footprint to 15 states, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2008. The acquisition is not anticipated to add materially to LHC Group’s earnings in 2008. § Health Care Service Corp (Chicago, IL) reached an agreement to acquire TMG Health (King of Prussia, PA), a provider of business process outsourcing for Medicare, Medicaid and group retiree health plans. TMG operates a national operations center with 1,140 employees in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Health Care Service Corp will retain the operations center and TMG's corporate office. TMG Health will become a wholly owned subsidiary operating as an independent organization with a separate board of directors. Jack Tighe will remain president and CEO of TMG. § Linde North America (Murray Hill, NJ), a member of The Linde Group (Munich, DEU), acquired Respiratory Support Services (Livingston, TN), which provides respiratory care services and equipment in a variety of settings, including sub-acute ventilator care, skilled nursing facilities and patient homes. Under the deal, RSS management staff and employees will join LifeGas, the medical division of Linde North America, but the acquired company will operate as Linde RSS LLC. § Eclipsys Corp (Atlanta, GA) completed its acquisition of MediNotes Corp (West Des Moines, IA), a privately owned electronic health record vendor. Eclipsys financed 39 percent of the $45 million deal with cash and 61 percent in Eclipsys common stock. MediNotes is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Eclipsys. Its management team will remain intact and approximately 90 percent of its employees will be retained. § Zimmer Holdings Inc (Warsaw, IN) completed its acquisition of Abbott Laboratories' (Abbott Park, IL) Abbott Spine business for $360 million in cash. Abbott Spine was founded in 1996. § Amedisys Inc (Baton Rouge, LA) closed on its previously announced acquisition of six home health agencies located in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. The deal expands the company’s coverage to five new counties in Maryland, five new counties in Pennsylvania, and statewide coverage in Delaware. The agencies had revenue of approximately $23 million for the twelve months ended June 30, 2008, but are not expected to add materially to Amedisys' earnings in 2008. Amedisys also completed the acquisition of Okanogan Regional Home Health and Hospice (Omak, WA), expanding its coverage in Washington by three counties. This business had total revenue of approximately $1.7 million for the twelve months ended August 31, 2008, but is not expected to add materially to Amedisys' earnings in 2008. § Cardinal Health Inc (Dublin, OH) completed the sale of MedSystems, which makes feeding-tube devices, to Linden, a healthcare and life-sciences private-equity firm. MedSystems was renamed Corpak MedSystems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Cardinal acquired MedSystems in 2007 as a part of its purchase of VIASYS Healthcare (Conshohocken, PA). § Emdeon Corp (Nashville, TN), a provider of revenue and payment cycle management solutions for the healthcare industry, acquired GE Healthcare's (Wauwatosa, WI) Information Technology's patient statement business, a bulk printing and mailing services provider. The patient statement business serves more than 400 hospitals and physician groups. Emdeon is also a preferred vendor partner for GE Healthcare's IT business. GE Healthcare IT's customers will have access to Emdeon's suite of integrated print and electronic patient billing services, return mail management, eCashiering, lockbox services and other patient communications. § Owens & Minor Inc (Richmond, VA) received approval from the FTC under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 (HSR) for its proposed acquisition of the net assets of The Burrows Company (Wheeling, IL), a privately-held distributor of medical and surgical supplies to the acute care market. The transaction is expected to close on October 1, 2008.§ MedTech Development LLC, a full-service design and development company exclusively focused on medical devices, today announced that all of its assets have been acquired by its long-time partner, Tronics Microystems SA of Crolles, France. § Sun Healthcare Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNH) announced that its SolAmor Hospice Corporation completed the acquisition of New Jersey based, Holisticare Hospice. Holisticare is a privately-held, Medicare-certified hospice company. With this current acquisition, Sun Healthcare Group provides hospice services in six states to more than 400 patients daily. Paragon Ventures was the exclusive advisor to Holisticare. § Health Systems Solutions Inc (HSS) (New York, NY) signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of the stock of Emageon Inc (Birmingham, AL). The agreement was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies and the Strategic Alternatives Committee of Emageon. HSS will acquire all outstanding shares of Emageon common stock for $2.85 a share, in an all cash transaction of approximately $62 million. The deal will help HSS accelerate the delivery of next generation Picture Archiving and Communication Systems. § Accelerated Care Plus Corp. said Thursday it had finalized the purchase of Neuroflex Orthotics, Aliso Viejo, Calif. The acquisition was the first for ACP Medical Supply Corp., which was founded earlier this year to support ACP's expansion into durable medical equipment. § Neighborhood Diabetes has increased its presence in the five boroughs of New York City with the purchase of New York Diabetic Supply. New York Diabetic Supply (NYDS, also known as Shelbourn Chemists), is headquartered in Brooklyn, and has been a leading supplier of glucose testing supplies and insulin pumps and pump supplies in New York City for over 20 years. § Zimmer Holdings Inc (Warsaw, IN) reached an agreement with Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL) to purchase its Abbott Spine business for about $360 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in Q4 2008. Zimmer expects to record an in-process research and development charge of about $50 million in the fourth quarter and to step up the value of acquired inventory by about $25 million. The company also expects to incur $40 million to $50 million in restructuring and integration costs from the deal. Funds for the transaction will include cash on hand and borrowings under an existing credit facility. Abbott Spine had sales of $197 million in 2007.
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Natus Medical Inc (San Carlos, CA) plans to acquire |