Report: ConvaTec trumps Apax Partners in bid for KCI

August 22, 2011 By MassDevice staff Leave a Comment

Apax Partners may have a rival for its sweetheart, Kinetic Concepts Inc. (NYSE:KCI), after news broke that KCI rival ConvaTec Inc. trumped the private equity player’s $6.3 billion bid for the wound care giant.

The news sent KCI shares up more than 2 percent overnight, after a Bloomberg report yesterday that ConvaTec, owned by PE firms Nordic Capital and Avista Capital Partners LLC, topped Apax’s $68.50-per-share offer.

Citing "two people familiar with the offer," the news service said ConvaTec is armed with letters backing its bid from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jefferies Group Inc., indicating that the banks are “highly confident” that ConvaTec can come up with the financing for the deal.

Apax and a pair of Canadian pension funds agreed July 12 to buy KCI for a 6 percent premium over its closing price that day. The London-based PE firm and its partners plan to finance the buyout with about $5 billion in debt, backed by lenders Bank of America Corp., Credit Suisse Group AG and Morgan Stanley. If true, the ConvaTec bid would just beat the expiration of a 40-day "go-shop" period during which KCI could solicit other offers.

Avista had been mulling a joint bid for KCI with Bain Capital LLC before Bain pulled out of the talks. The Boston-based PE titan withdrew over concerns about obtaining financing and about the price of the deal.

Despite leveraged buyout costs reaching a year-long high, the days of the LBO might be back – the Apax deal would be the largest such deal since before the fall of Lehman Brothers sent the global economy into a tailspin in September 2008 (Nordic and Avista bought ConvaTec from Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. for $4.1 billion that year).

Harting increases cable assembly supplies in response to COVID-19 pandemic
Harting Technology Group appears to be engaging in a fine balancing act: The Minden, Germany–based company says it is taking numerous measures to protect its employees, while also providing customer-specific cable assemblies for respiratory equipment and other medical devices needed to fight COVID-19. Several German manufacturers are currently producing the devices on which patients and… […]
FDA relaxes rules around ECMO devices during pandemic
The FDA has issued new guidance to help expand the availability of devices used in extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) therapy to treat COVID-19 patients. Extracorporeal circuits and accessories for long-term respiratory/cardiopulmonary failure, including devices used for ECMO therapy, provide assisted extracorporeal circulation and physiologic gas exchange of a patient’s blood for more than 6 hours.… […]
Cantel Medical ups production of dental masks for COVID-19
Cantel Medical (NYSE:CMD) announced last week that it is increasing production of its surgical earloop dental mask amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is increasing manufacturing by its HuFriedyGroup dental division to 24 hours a day, seven days a week at its two New York manufacturing sites. The expectation is that production volume will increase by… […]
Carbon partners with Adidas, Resolution Medical on COVID-19 response
Carbon, the 3D printing company, announced today that it is working with Adidas on face shields for healthcare workers and with Resolution Medical on nasal swabs for COVID-19 testing. Adidas tweeted about its work with longtime collaborator Carbon, saying the athleticwear company is aiding Carbon’s production of face shields, which healthcare providers are using to… […]
German automotive supplier shifts production to face masks to battle COVID-19
Automotive supplier Wrapping Solutions (Rosengarten, Germany) is partnering with Optima Life Science to produce face masks to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. Wrapping Solutions specializes in producing interior fittings for cars — but has transitioned to sewing 24,000 masks per day at 20 workplaces since March 23. Over the long term, the company plans to… […]
Qosina touts single-use bioprocessing components for coronavirus response
With the bioprocess industry mobilizing to support the development of tests, vaccines and treatments for COVID-19, medtech distributor Qosina said that its supply of single-use bioprocessing components can offer significantly reduced time to clinic and market over multi-use systems during situations like the coronavirus pandemic. Ronkokoma, N.Y.-based Qosina said it also provides 3D CAD models… […]
Could these DIY ventilators stop coronavirus from killing people?
Amid the global crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals and healthcare facilities are reporting shortages of vital equipment that not only keeps the patients safe, but the staffers, too. One important device for which demand has ramped up is ventilators for patients who need assistance with their breathing due to the respiratory effects of… […]
How medtech manufacturers are bringing the fight to coronavirus
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the world, contract manufacturers and OEMs continue pivoting to meet the needs of front-line healthcare providers. Here are some of the latest examples: Stryker Stryker (NYSE:SYK) recently announced that it has developed a low-cost, limited-release emergency response bed for use in hospital emergency departments, triage and pop-up areas of… […]
DeviceTalks Weekly: Ep.4 — What does Medtronic’s Puritan reveal mean for medtech?
What does Medtronic’s Puritan reveal mean for medtech? Medtronic earned plaudits and praise for sharing the design specifications for its Puritan Bennett 560 (PB560) ventilators. But will the gesture actually lead to more ventilators being manufactured? In this episode of DeviceTalks Weekly, we’ll talk with experts who will tell us what the plans do and… […]
Newest shortage: Respiratory ventilator repair manuals?
The U.S. Public Interest Research Group says that many manufacturers or respiratory ventilators do not provide access to repair documentation, limiting who can repair the equipment. The advocacy group claims this practice discourages third-party medical repair companies or in-house medical engineers from trying to fix things. So USPIRG, which also sponsors a Right to Repair Campaign, says… […]
Webinar: The digital production floor transformation: Extending your digital edge beyond core systems
Tuesday, May 5, 2020 11:30 am Eastern time / 8:30 am Pacific time Digital transformation efforts are accelerating in a variety of manufacturing areas, yet many producers stop short of digitizing their device history records (DHRs) and other shop floor data collection efforts. Despite the investments manufacturers have made in tried-and-true digitization and… […]