Edwards Lifesciences to acquire Valtech Cardio in $690m deal

Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE:EW) said today that it agreed to put $690 million on the table for Valtech Cardio and most of the heart valve repair technologies it’s developing.

The deal, which calls for $340 million in up-front cash and another $350 million in milestones, does not include Valtech Cardio’s transseptal mitral valve replacement program. That business is slated to be spun out on its own before the buyout’s closing, expected in early 2017, but Edwards is due to keep an option to buy, the company said.

Valtech makes the Cardioband device, which is designed to reshape the mitral valve using specially designed anchors. The Or Yehuda, Israel-based company was the target of a previous takeover attempt by HeartWare International that was spiked early this year after a proxy war. (HeartWare itself was acquired by Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) for $1.1 billion in August.) Valtech won CE Mark approval in the European Union for Cardioband in September 2015 but the device is not approved for the U.S. market.

“As we continue to pursue multiple therapies to address the diverse needs of patients affected by heart valve disease, we saw an important opportunity to incorporate Valtech’s technologies into our comprehensive heart valve repair and replacement portfolio,” Edwards chairman & CEO Michael Mussallem said in prepared remarks. “We recognize that physicians will likely need a toolbox of options to treat their patients most effectively. We are very pleased with the progress and future prospects of the multiple internal programs we have underway, and we believe the addition of Valtech’s talented team and mitral and tricuspid technologies will present even more opportunities to help patients.”

Edwards also said it added $1 billion to the $277 million remaining on its share buyback program, noting that the repurchasing will help offset the Valtech deal’s dilution.

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