Dive Brief:
- Boston Scientific has agreed to acquire Devoro Medical in a deal worth $269 million, continuing the medtech's 2021 M&A spending spree.
- Devoro makes the WOLF Thrombectomy platform, which is designed to grab and break down blood clots with finger-like prongs and then "ingest" the clot into the device, according to the company's website. The deal announced Tuesday is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021.
- Boston Scientific has been a strategic investor in Devoro since 2019, holding an equity stake of approximately 16%. The acquisition will give Boston Scientific the remaining 84% stake. Along with the $269 million price tag, Devoro Medical can receive up to $67 million if certain regulatory and clinical milestones are achieved.
Dive Insight:
Boston Scientific has been one of the most active medtech spenders in a year with a flurry of dealmaking in the industry. The company dolled out $925 million in January for cardiac wearables company Preventice Solutions and spent $295 million for cardiac ablation device maker Farapulse in June.
The medtech also recently closed its $1.07 billion purchase of Lumenis' surgical business from Baring Private Equity Asia, which was announced in March. According to Boston Scientific, Lumenis is projected to bring in about $200 million of revenue in 2021.
Boston Scientific's pattern this year has been to buy up the remaining shares of companies after making initial investments. The company bought out stakes for Preventice, Farapulse and now Devoro Medical.
The Devoro deal fits into the company's overall spending strategy. CFO Daniel Brennan said during a July earnings call that Boston Scientific had about $2.7 billion of cash on hand as of June 30 and will prioritize tuck-in acquisitions going forward.
Michael Jaff, Boston Scientific's chief medical officer and vice president for peripheral interventions, said in Tuesday's announcement the company plans to accelerate development of the WOLF technology following the acquisition.
Excluding Boston Scientific's equity ownership, the transaction is worth a total of $320 million and up to $80 million of additional payments.
The acquisition adds to recent activity in the thrombectomy area. Abbott Laboratories acquired Walk Vascular in September and Surmodics bought up Vetex Medical in July.
"The series of deal activity in the space further validates the market opportunity, in our view, and highlights the broad set of companies with interest in this space," Truist Securities analysts wrote.
The analysts added that competition in the peripheral thrombectomy market, which includes Penumbra, is likely to heat up as market penetration is only about 10% and physicians are favoring thrombectomy intervention treatments, like the WOLF technology.
