Originally Published MX May/June 2004
BUSINESS NEWS
Cytyc Acquires NovaceptIn a move designed to expand its line of therapeutic medical devices in the area of women's health, Cytyc Corp. (Boxborough, MA) announced in March that it has closed the acquisition of Novacept Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) for $325 million.
Cytyc develops cervical cancer screening tests. Novacept is a privately held company that manufactures and markets the NovaSure system, an endometrial ablation device that treats menorrhagia, or excessive menstrual bleeding.
"We believe this is a great strategic opportunity for Cytyc for several reasons," said Patrick J. Sullivan, Cytyc chairman, president, and CEO. "First, it builds on our reputation and leadership position in providing innovative medical devices for women's health. Second, it increases our sales and marketing resources to ob-gyn physicians. Third, we believe this acquisition will put us on a strong and diversified financial growth trajectory on both the top and bottom line."
In a company press release, Cytyc noted that Novacept launched its NovaSure system in January 2002 and generated $38.4 million in annual sales in 2003, up from $8.3 million in sales in 2002.
Morgan Stanley (New York City) is acting as financial advisor to Cytyc and has provided a commitment for up to $250 million in senior bank financing, according to Cytyc. The balance of the purchase price will be paid with the company's available cash. Piper Jaffray (Minneapolis) acted as advisor to Novacept for the transaction.
Copyright ©2004 MX
