Kohlberg picks up controlling stake in Amendia

Amendia said last week that private equity firm Kohlberg & Company inked a deal to snag a majority ownership in Amendia.

Kohlberg & Company will support Amendia’s growth initiatives with its $1.6 billion private equity fund, the company said.

“We are thrilled with our new partners and the resources they bring to the Amendia organization. Kohlberg & Company’s reputation of investment success along with a track record of fostering world-class operational performance makes them the ideal partner to help implement our plans for strategic growth. Chris Fair has been a trusted advisor to Amendia for many years, and together with Scott Bruder and Larry Boyd we are adding more than six decades of world-class spine industry experience to our management team. The Amendia team and I look forward to working closely with our new partners to take our company to new heights,” Amendia CEO Jeff Smith said in a prepared statement.

As part of the transaction, Amendia expanded its senior management to include 3 new individuals, Marietta, Ga.-based Amendia said.

Chris Fair will join Amendia as chief operating officer and board member, Larry Boyd will take up as the exec veep of R&D and Kohlberg strategic advisor Dr. Scott Bruder is joining the company’s board and executive committee.

Bruder previously held chief medical and scientific officer positions with Stryker (NYSE:SYK), chief science and tech officer at Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE:BDX) and worldwide veep at DePuy Orthopedics.

“The solid foundation already in place at Amendia is a distinguishing characteristic that gives this platform so much potential. I’m very enthusiastic about helping to pave the way for success in the evolving landscape of spine care by providing clinically meaningful innovations that improve patient outcomes,” Bruder said in a press release.

“We see tremendous growth opportunities for Amendia. Through its broad portfolio of innovative products and intellectual property, scalable operational infrastructure, and continued dedication to its mission to exceed surgeon and patient expectations, Amendia is uniquely positioned to serve the growing demands of the spinal surgery marketplace in the US and beyond,” Kohlberg & Company partner Chris Anderson said in prepared remarks.

Amendia itself has been on an M&A spree over the past year. Last September, Amendia purchased the rights to Sinu-Lok, a novel, minimally invasive rod implant replacement used in thoracolumbar spine surgery.

The device was developed and patented by the Institute for Applied Neuroscience technology accelerator at Charleston, S.C.’s Medical University of South Carolina, according to Amendia.

In July, Amendia said it picked up New Jersey-based spinal technology company Custom Spine. Amendia did not disclose the details of the acquisition.

The company said the acquisition would further its focus on the spinal market and that Custom Spine’s Pathway articulating vertebral interbody technology was of specific interest to Amendia.

In June, Amendia bought transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion system assets from SpineSelect. The system assets purchased by Amendia include 2 product families – the Marquise MIS channel system and the Turbo MIS TLIF system, the Marietta, Ga.-based company said.

Amendia gained a total of 20 spinal technology patents from SpineSelect, the company said.

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