The Burrill Report

Investment funds managed by private equity firm TPG Capital agreed to acquire the blood testing firm Immucor in a cash transaction with a fully diluted equity value of $1.97 billion. Immucor shareholders will receive $27 for each share of common stock they own, representing a premium of approximately 30.2 percent over the closing share price on July 1, the last trading day before the announcement.

“Partnering with TPG will allow us to continue with our commitment to deliver innovative technologies that meet our customers' needs and improve patient safety,” says Joshua Levine, president and CEO of Immucor. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year.

Immucor, which makes instruments and reagents for the blood transfusion industry, had been trying to auction itself off after several quarters of slow sales growth. Although earnings per share have risen, 2011 revenue is expected to be in line with 2010 revenue at about $330 million. Dan Leonard, a Leerink Swann analyst in New York who covers medical diagnostics companies, told Bloomberg that Immucor got the best deal it could expect.

Medtronic acquired two medical technology startups in which it had made substantial equity investments. Both companies make surgical tools and will broaden Medtronic’s portfolio of surgical products. In the larger of the two deals, it is buying Salient Surgical Technologies in a transaction valued at $525 million, including Medtronic’s previous investment of about $45 million. Salient’s technology reduces blood loss and improves surgeon visualization through haemostatic sealing of soft tissue and bone. The company had approximately $100 million in revenues last year.

Medtronic is also acquiring PEAK Surgical, a developer of surgical incision instruments, for $120 million, to further broaden its surgical technologies portfolio. The transaction amount includes a previous equity investment of $15 million in the startup.

PEAK’s disposable cutting devices enable exacting control of a scalpel and the bleeding control during traditional electrosurgery with minimal thermal tissue damage. The technology is cleared for use in a variety of surgical settings, including ear, nose and throat, plastic reconstructive, orthopedic, and general surgical applications. PEAK’s annualized revenue is approximately $20 million and is growing rapidly.

Finally, emerging markets have attracted Italian pharmaceutical Recordati. The drugmaker will acquire Dr. F. Frik Ilac, a Turkish pharmaceutical company, for approximately $130 million. It is the second acquisition Recordati has made in Turkey, where it acquired Yeni Ilac, in December 2008.

Frik Ilac is one of the oldest Turkish pharmaceuticals and one of the fastest growing. The company has a core portfolio of original prescription products both in primary and specialist areas. Net sales in 2010 were approximately $57 million.

With the acquisition, Turkey will become Recordati’s third most important market after Italy and France. Pharmaceutical growth in Turkey is expected to continue at average rates of between 10 and 13 percent in the next few years.

“The acquisition of Frik Ilac is an important step forward in our strategy to increase our business in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe, where the pharmaceutical market is growing at rates significantly greater than those of the western European market,” says Giovanni Recordati, chairman and CEO.


July 08, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-tpg_capital_takes_immucor_private_for_1_97b.html