Merit Medical Systems Inc. (NSDQ:MMSI) closed its $96 million cash acquisition of BioSphere Medical Inc. (NSDQ:BSMD).
The buyout of the Rockland, Mass.-based embolotherapeutic device developer, announced in May, was delayed by a lawsuit brought on the company’s board by the its shareholders.
After South Jordan, Utah-based Merit and BioSphere revealed the deal in May, a group of BioSphere shareholders asued the company’s board, alleging that its officers breached their fiduciary duties with the proposed sale. In July, the shareholders expanded the suit, adding the company itself as a defendant and further alleging “that the Company’s preliminary proxy statement fail[ed] to provide material information and provid[ed] materially misleading information relating to the proposed merger transaction.”
Early this month, BioSphere and the anti-deal shareholders settled their beef, resulting in the dismissal of all of the claims in the lawsuit.
BioSphere shareholders received $4.38 per share, according to a regulatory filing, a 54 percent premium over BSMD’ $2.84 closing price May 12, the day before the merger was announced.
Merit said it intends to maintain BioSphere’s manufacturing facility in France and a scaled-down office in Rockland, Mass.
"We believe [the acquisition] will position us to capitalize on our existing distribution network and our direct sales force to achieve future growth in emerging markets such as China, in underserved markets in Europe, and in expanding markets in the United States,” Merit CEO Fred Lampropoulos said in prepared remarks.
The company said it believes BioSphere’s embolotherapy treatments of uterine fibroids and primary liver cancer represent a worldwide market potential of $650 million and $380 million, respectively.
