Medtronic Inc. said Monday that it will pay $800 million for a privately held California company that has developed a new kind of treatment for high blood pressure.
The Fridley-based medical technology company characterized Ardian Inc.'s technology as tackling "one of the most exciting growth markets in medical devices." Mountain View, Calif.-based Ardian has developed a minimally invasive procedure that lowers blood pressure by using radio frequency energy to silence renal nerves.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, afflicts some 1.2 billion people worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease and death.
Medtronic, which already holds an 11 percent stake in Ardian, said it will pay the $800 million in cash up front, plus undisclosed milestones based on Ardian's revenue through 2015.
Medtronic executives have said the company will pursue "opportunistic" acquisitions to fill holes in its wide swath of businesses, which range from treating heart disease, diabetes and spine maladies. As of mid-July, Medtronic had about $3.9 billion in cash and short-term investments.
The company has announced 25 pending or completed acquisitions over the past five years, with an average size of $446 million and an average premium of 71 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The biggest deal was the 2007 purchase of spine surgery device maker Kyphon Inc. for $3.8 billion.
Ardian's flagship product, called the Symplicity Catheter System, is not yet available in the United States, but is approved for use in Europe and in Australia.
Last week, the company said it presented data from a clinical study at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association that showed its catheter-based device was effective in reducing high blood pressure. Results from the study were published in the British medical journal the Lancet.
