Boston Scientific has agreed to buy Eagan cardiac-monitor maker Preventice Solutions Inc., in which it already had a 22% stake, for nearly $1 billion, the company said Thursday.
The deal, expected to close this summer, includes a net cash payment of $720 million plus possible "commercial milestone payments" of up to $230 million.
Preventice is a fast-growing company founded in 2007. Last year, sales increased 30% to $158 million. The company, which employs 500 people and also has offices in Houston and Rochester, Minn., is part of the cardiac diagnostic and services market that is estimated to be worth $2 billion and growing double digits each year.
Boston Scientific first invested in Preventice in 2015.
Preventice specializes in wearable heart monitors, cardiac event monitors and portable cardiac telemetry equipment that continuously tracks a patient's electrical heartbeat activity (EKG), respiratory rate and oxygen saturation levels while automatically transmitting the data to a centralized monitor.
"This acquisition will provide Boston Scientific with a foothold in the high-growth ambulatory electrocardiography space, which strongly complements our recent entrance into the implantable cardiac monitor market," said Scott Olson, Boston Scientific senior vice president and president of Rhythm Management. "We are confident that by adding the broad technology portfolio and expertise of Preventice, our combined teams can continue to deliver rapid growth in these highly attractive markets while also establishing an important adjacency to our core cardiac rhythm management and electrophysiology businesses."
Preventice Chief Executive Jon Otterstatter said he believes Boston Scientific "has the commercial reach, diagnostics expertise and operational infrastructure to bring" its advanced monitoring technologies to more patients worldwide. Preventice had been aggressively raising funds as it sought to grow.
In October, Minnesota trade group Medical Alley reported that Preventice Solutions raised $137 million in Series B funding to advance its artificial intelligence-enabled remote cardiac monitoring technology.
Preventice's product portfolio includes the BodyGuardian, a family of remote and wearable patient cardiac monitors that was developed with help from the Mayo Clinic Ventures division starting in 2009. Preventice licensed the algorithms and select technologies for the BodyGuardian remote-monitoring device from Mayo Clinic in 2010 and then won clearance for the device from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012. Mayo has an equity stake in Preventice that will be sold to Boston Scientific.
Boston Scientific, with more than $10 billion in annual revenue, is betting that Preventice will help it nab a share of the growing demand for heart-monitoring options as doctors seek better and earlier detection of heart rhythm and other problems.
"We have been humbled to provide thousands of physician practices with services based on near real-time clinical data to enable the diagnosis and management of more than 1 million cardiac patients, without needing to interrupt their daily activities," Otterstatter said.
The acquisition is expected to be immaterial to Boston Scientific's adjusted earnings per share in 2021, but will be accretive (by a penny or more) in 2022, and beyond, officials said.
Boston Scientific's stock closed at $37.52 on Thursday, up nearly 2.4% for the day.
Dee DePass • 612-673-7725
