A Medical Device Daily

Natus Medical (San Carlos, California) reported that it has agreed to acquire Deltamed (Paris) and its wholly owned subsidiary IT-Med (Frankfurt, Germany) for about $4 million (EUR 3.1 million).

Deltamed manufactures devices used in the detection of neurological dysfunction, epilepsy and sleep disorders by using electroencephalograph (EEG) and polysomnography (PSG) technologies. It said the acquisitions will add to its growth in the international market by broadening its product offerings and leveraging its distribution organization.

Natus said it will retain Deltamed's operations as well as its direct sales channels in France and Germany. Deltamed founder Robert LeGuen will continue as managing director of the organization.

Deltamed recorded revenue of EUR 4.3 million in calendar 2005 or about $5.3 million, and has sold more than 2,000 EEG & PSG devices since its inception. It has 37 employees.

“We believe Deltamed's complementary products and distribution will fill a need in our EEG & PSG product portfolio internationally and give Natus a stronger European presence,” said Jim Hawkins, president/CEO of Natus. “Deltamed has successfully developed a direct sales force in France and Germany, where they are a market leader in EEG sales and are recognized for producing high-quality products.”

Natus said it expects the transaction to close in about two weeks and that it will be accretive to earnings in 4Q06.

Natus is a provider of healthcare products used for the screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking of medical ailments such as hearing impairment, neurological dysfunction, epilepsy, sleep disorders, newborn jaundice and newborn metabolic testing.

In other dealmaking activity:

• Reflect Scientific (Orem, Utah), manufacturer and distributor of laboratory equipment and supplies to the life sciences industry, reported that it has agreed to acquire Image Laboratories International (ILI; Bozeman, Montana).

John Hammerman, vice president business development for Reflect, said that the acquisition “adds an extra dimension to our analytical tools business and through its automation engineering capabilities will provide additional synergies with our recently acquired Cryometrix business. Led by its president, Brian Smithgall, Image Labs is an excellent resource in both people skills and technologies and we are excited about its impact on our business.”

ILI manufactures factory automation equipment, its primary product lines focusing on automated inspection, measurement and material handling.

Reflect provides products for the biotech, pharma and medical industries.

• Fisher Scientific International (Hampton, New Hampshire) reported the commencement of a consent solicitation relating to its: 6% senior subordinated notes, due 2014, and 6 1/8% senior subordinated notes, due 2015.

On May 8, Fisher Scientific and Thermo Electron (Waltham, Massachussets) entered into a merger agreement (Medical Device Daily, May 2006), and in connection with the transaction, Thermo and Fisher Scientific will execute supplemental indentures making Thermo a co-obligor on the notes on a senior subordinated basis.

Fisher Scientific is requesting that holders of the notes as of Sept. 5, 2006, the record date for the consent solicitation, agree to certain proposed amendments to the indentures governing the notes. The proposed amendments to each applicable indenture, if and when they become effective, will modify the covenant that requires the company to provide certain information to the applicable trustee and holders such that the filing of periodic reports with the SEC by Thermo, the direct parent of Fisher Scientific after the merger, will satisfy the information requirement; and modify the provision addressing the effect of credit ratings on certain covenants.

The consent solicitation is subject to the receipt of consents from holders of at least a majority in principal amount of each of these two series of notes and will expire at 5 p.m., EST, Sept. 20, unless extended. Subject to the conditions of the consent solicitation, if the required consents are received and the merger is consummated, the company will pay to each holder who has validly delivered a consent on or prior to 5 p.m. EST, on the expiration date a payment of $1.25 for each $1,000 principal amount of notes.

Fisher Scientific is a provider of tools and services to the scientific community.

• Hatch Medical (Duluth, Georgia), a medical device incubator and technology brokerage firm, reported being retained by IDEV Technologies (Houston) to broker the sale of its FDA-cleared and CE-marked product lines, the Texan LONGhorn and mini-Tex foreign body retrieval devices and the AKonya Eliminator and AKonya Eliminator Plus mechanical thrombectomy devices.

Paul Gianneschi, managing principal at Hatch, said, “We look forward to successfully brokering the acquisition or license of IDEV's unique technologies, no doubt complementary to any endovascular product line.”

Thomas Tully, IDEV's CEO and chairman, said, “Divesting these businesses allows our team to focus on our emerging stent business, which we believe has unmatched potential.”

IDEV develops peripheral stent technologies, its portfolio containing more than 30 technologies licensed from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston).

• Microchip Biotechnologies (MBI; Dublin, California), reported signing a license agreement with the University of California for U.S. patent 6,623,613, “Microfabricated Liquid Sample Loading System” and related patent applications developed by Professor Richard Mathies and his team at U. C. Berkeley. Financial details were not released.

MBI is an early-stage, privately-held company developing nanofluidic sample preparation and analytical instrumentation for the genomics and biodefense markets. Its solutions are based on its NanoBioProcessor platform and associated Microscale-on-Chip Valves technology.

• Steelcase (Grand Rapids, Michigan), a manufacturer of office environments, reported acquiring Softcare Innovations (Waterloo, Ontario), a privately-held manufacturer of healthcare furnishings. Steelcase also acquired Softcare's sister company DJRT Manufacturing (Waterloo). Financial terms were not disclosed.

Steelcase said the acquisition grows its new healthcare division, Nurture by Steelcase. Softcare has a portfolio of patient room casegoods and healthcare seatingproducts that will expand Nurture's portfolio, Steelcase said.

Michael Love, president of Nurture by Steelcase, said, “We've already integrated healthcare-related products and services from Steelcase companies under the Nurture umbrella. Softcare, with one of the broadest product offerings of any healthcare manufacturer, is a welcome addition to this new family.”

Softcare's portfolio will be available through Steelcase dealers in addition to Softcare's existing network of dealers and sales representatives. Softcare will remain headquartered in Waterloo and will continue to market products under its current name; its current management team will remain in charge of day-to-day operations.

• NovaMed (Chicago) reported that it has acquired a 60% interest in an ambulatory surgery center located in Sandusky, Ohio, NovaMed's first surgery center in Ohio. With this transaction, NovaMed said it has acquired six ambulatory surgery centers so far in 2006. Terms were not disclosed.

Thomas Hall, NovaMed president/CEO, said, “In the last 12 months approximately 2,500 total surgical procedures were performed at [the Sandusky] center and we expect this acquisition will be immediately accretive to our earnings.”

NovaMed also disclosed that it closed one of its surgery centers located in Kansas City, Missouri, and consolidated its business with its surgery center located in Overland Park, Kansas.

“For efficiency purposes, we decided to consolidate the surgical volume of two surgery centers that were located in the same general market into one,” said Hall.

NovaMed acquires and operates ambulatory surgery centers in partnership with physicians.

• LifePoint Hospitals (Brentwood, Tennessee) reported completing the acquisition of Havasu Surgery Center (Lake Havasu City, Arizona). Terms were not disclosed.

The company previously reported that its Havasu Regional Medical Center had entered into a partnership with the physicians affiliated with Havasu Surgery Center to operate a new venture.

Havasu Surgery Center, with annual revenues of about $5.5 million, is a provider of outpatient surgical services in Lake Havasu City. Havasu Regional Medical Center, a 138-bed acute care hospital with annual revenues of about $93 million, provides inpatient and outpatient services to about 55,000 individuals living in Lake Havasu City.

LifePoint is a hospital company focused on providing healthcare services in non-urban communities.