Hologic offers up to $85m for SuperSonic Imagine

Hologic (NSDQ:HOLX) and SuperSonic Imagine (EPA:SSI) yesterday revealed a binding offer that would see Hologic pay some $85 million to acquire the French ultrasound device maker.

Marlborough, Mass.-based Hologic’s €1.50-per-share bid amounts to about $42 million for all outstanding SSI shares and warrants, plus not more than $43 million to pay off any debts owed by Aix-en-Provence-based SuperSonic Imagine. The offering price is a 42.9% premium on SSI’s €YY closing price June 19 and a 45.7% premium on the stock’s 60-day volume-weighted average price, the companies said.

SuperSonic Imagine posted sales of about $29 million last year, with less than 15% of that coming from the U.S., and employs about 180 workers. Its main shareholders have already pledged to sell their 46% stake to Hologic; if that sale goes through Hologic would make a cash tender offer for the remaining shares. That offer is slated to close by the end of the year.

“Like our previous acquisitions of Faxitron and Focal, acquiring SuperSonic Imagine will strengthen our strategy to provide comprehensive screening, interventional and surgical solutions across the continuum of breast health care,” breast & skeletal health president Pete Valenti said in prepared remarks. “Ultrasound is becoming increasingly important in diagnosing breast cancer, and we believe SuperSonic Imagine offers superior technology that translates into better clinical outcomes for breast cancer patients, as well as for patients with liver and prostate disease.”

“SuperSonic Imagine’s objective is to give itself the means to accelerate its commercial growth, by continuing to invest in innovation and improving its operational excellence. To do so, we were looking for a partner who could not only support this development financially but also help us to penetrate new markets, particularly the U.S. market, more quickly and accompany us in the optimization of our processes in order to improve customer satisfaction,” added SuperSonic Imagine CEO Michèle Lesieur. “This contemplated acquisition of SuperSonic Imagine by Hologic meets all our strategic objectives, and would allow us to develop the ultrasound activity within a group that shares our values: The substantial importance of innovation, the contribution to improving healthcare, the added value of relationships with clinicians and the importance of the human factor within the companies. I am delighted with this opportunity for SuperSonic Imagine, because I firmly believe that it will allow us to write a new page in the history of this great company.”

Hologic estimated that the buyout would be less than 1% dilutive to its adjusted earnings per share for fiscal 2020.

($1 = €0.883355)