The financial dealings for St. Jude Medical Inc.’s (NYSE:STJ) acquisition of AGA Medical Holdings Inc. (NSDQ:AGAM) have begun.
The St. Paul, Minn.-based cardiac device maker commenced an exchange offer for all of the outstanding shares of AGA’s common stock.
St. Jude announced the acquisition of AGA and its portfolio of transcatheter heart repair devices Oct. 18. The company’s $20.80-per-share bid for its Twin Cities peer is a roughly 41 percent premium over AGA Medical’s Oct. 15 closing price of $14.71. AGAM shares soared after the news broke, closing at $20.97 Oct. 21.
AGA shareholders may elect to received cash or a portion of St. Jude stock with a fair market value of $20.80, according to the company. STJ closed at $38.92 per share the day the deal was announced and is currently trading for $39.24. The offer expires at midnight on the evening of Nov. 17.
St. Jude today announced that its board authorized a share repurchase plan worth up to $300 million on top of the $600 million repurchase program that the board authorized to source the stock trade portion of its acquisition of AGA.
If St. Jude completes its acquisition of AGA by the end of the year, it might be the quickest exit in Wall Street history after AGA’s initial public offering less than a year ago. Its problems in winning Food & Drug Administration approval for its Amplatzer PFO occluder and cardiac plugs — devices used to treat structural defects in the heart — may have pushed the company to a sale.