Itamar Medical Ltd. (TASE:ITMR; Nasdaq: ITMR), which produces devices for diagnosing sleep disorders, is being sold for $538 million. Itamar Medical's current market cap is $338 million, so the acquisition price represents a premium of about 50%.
The buyer is ZOLL Medical, an international manufacturer of medical devices and provider of accompanying software solutions.
Under the terms of the sale agreement, which was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of ZOLL Medical and Itamar Medical, ZOLL Medical will pay $31 cash for every ADS (American depositary share) in Itamar Medical, equivalent to $1.03 (NIS 3.3) per share.
In response to the news, Itamar Medical's share price is up nearly 34% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
The deal is subject to approval by the shareholders of Iatmar Medical, regulatory approvals, and other customary preconditions. The companies expect the deal to be completed within three to four months.
Itamar Medical's activity is expected to continue at its offices and labs in Caesarea and Herzliya, including R&D and production.
Itamar Medical gained from the coronavirus pandemic, which changed the division of the market between home sleep diagnostic devices, such as Itamar's, and sleep laboratories, which represented the established market and with which Itamar Medical had had difficulty in competing. Even before the pandemic, Itamar Medical had begun building a successful business in home diagnosis of sleep disorders, with an emphasis on sleep apnea, but most of the doctors who referred patients to it were cardiologists, and not sleep specialists, who preferred the laboratories. When the coronavirus pandemic began, the company broke into this market.
"From the founding of Itamar Medical till today over twenty-five years have passed. Over 1,150 breakthrough research papers have been published in the professional literature, leading to the saving of lives and the development of breakthrough drugs. We shall continue to lead the way forward under new ownership, maintaining our standards of excellence and our ethos," said Dr. Giora Yaron, one of Itamar Medical's founders and its chairperson throughout its existence.
Itamar Medical president and CEO Gilad Glick added: "The combination of Itamar Medical's WatchPAT technology and its digital solution for sleep apnea, and ZOLL Medical's market presence, will assist and accelerate our effort to promote home medicine for sleep apnea and will support the diagnosis of patients who are not diagnosed and not treated."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on September 13, 2021
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