Quebec City heart technology maker OpSens Inc. has agreed to sell itself to Boston health care company Haemonetics Corp. for $345-million.
It is the biggest acquisition of a Canadian medical device business since Boston Scientific Corp. bought Baylis Medical Co. Inc.’s cardiovascular devices unit for US$1.75-billion in early 2022.
Haemonetics has agreed to pay $2.90 per share for Toronto Stock Exchange-listed OpSens or 50 per cent above its latest closing price, the companies said early Tuesday. OpSens stock jumped 46 per cent in heavy trading on the TSX Tuesday, changing hands in the late morning at $2.83 per share.
OpSens sells technology it has developed that uses fibre-optic sensors and stainless steel guidewires to assess and treat coronary ailments, including blocked arteries and heart valve issues. The 300-person company generated revenue of $31.6-million in the nine months ended May 31, up 33 per cent year-over-year.
Much of its recent momentum has been driven by sales of its Savvywire product, which enables “faster and safer delivery of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, leading to better outcomes and lower cost,” said David Martin, an analyst with Bloom Burton in Toronto.
Mr. Martin said OpSens had been careful to launch Savvywire with a focus on training and working out early kinks. “As a result, early sales amounts have not reflected the potential” of the product. “The street seems to want results in the form of dollars these days, not just promise of future dollars. Hence the opportunity for strategic players to swoop in and buy assets at attractive prices even when they pay healthy premiums.”
OpSens chief executive officer Louis Laflamme said in an interview that, with the company competing against medical device giants such as Boston Scientific, Koninklijke Philips N.V. and Abbott Laboratories, “we were able to penetrate and have a place in this market, which is a great achievement.”
But as a small company with only two products to sell, “it was a challenge to generate a profitable sales force, especially in direct markets,” Mr. Laflamme added. “We were at the point where it was relevant to us to have a worldwide sales channel. We had that, but it was much smaller than what we will find here with Haemonetics.” He said combining OpSens devices with those offered by Haemonetics will present a much stronger product line to health care institutions around the world.
Stewart Strong, the president of Haemonetics’ global hospital business, said in a news release that, with the OpSens acquisition, his company has “a powerful opportunity to improve standards of care for more physicians and patients worldwide.”
OpSens started out 20 years ago selling pressure- and temperature-sensing technology to the heavy oil sector in Alberta. It began developing health care applications in the late 2000s.