Medtronic/Electromedics
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Medtronic signs definitive agreement to acquire Electromedics in a deal worth approximately $96.3 mil., ending a bidding war with St. Jude over the firm. The Dec. 23 pact calls for Medtronic to pay either $6.875 in cash, the equivalent in Medtronic stock, or a combination of cash and stock, for each of Electromedics' approximately 14 mil. shares outstanding. Medtronic began the bidding for Electromedics on Nov. 19 with an $85.8 mil. offer. On Dec. 6, Electromedics and St. Jude entered a definitive merger agreement under which St. Jude would have paid $90 mil. for the autotransfusion and perfusion equipment company ("The Gray Sheet" Dec. 13, p. 1). On Dec. 9, Medtronic offered $6.75 a share, or about $95 mil., which St. Jude is said to have considered matching. In a Dec. 24 press release, St. Jude President and CEO Ronald Matricaria asserted that its $90 mil. offer "fully valued" Electromedics and it was not "in the interest of St. Jude Medical's shareholders to increase our offer for Electromedics"