Milestones 4142

MILESTONES

Water Street Capital Partners LLC (Chicago), a private equity firm specializing in healthcare investments, has agreed to acquire Facet Technologies from Matria Healthcare Inc. (Marietta, GA) for approximately $122 million. Facet Technologies specializes in diabetes product design, development, and assembly.

Effective January 1, 2007, St. Jude Medical Inc. (St. Paul, MN) plans to combine its cardiac surgery and cardiology divisions to create a new cardiovascular division. Daniel J. Starks, chairman, president, and CEO of St. Jude Medical, said the move will boost operating efficiencies and increase funds available for investment in research and development.

FoxHollow Technologies Inc. (Redwood City, CA) has agreed to acquire Kerberos Proximal Solutions Inc. (Cupertino, CA) for $32 million in cash and stock. Kerberos is a private manufacturer of medical devices for the removal of blood clots from arteries. "We believe the Kerberos thrombectomy system is a great first addition to FoxHollow's product portfolio, which previously has been focused exclusively on SilverHawk plaque excision in peripheral vessels," said John B. Simpson, PhD, MD, FoxHollow's founder and CEO. "We believe the Kerberos products will find application in both the coronary and peripheral arteries."