Bovie Medical Corp. has agreed to sell its electrosurgical business and its brand name to Symmetry Surgical Inc. for $97 million.
The sale will allow Bovie, a medical device manufacturer headquartered in Clearwater, to focus on commercializing its J-Plasma/Renuvion technology in the cosmetic surgery market, Charlie Goodwin, CEO, said in a press release.
The sale is a milestone moment for Bovie, which is named for Dr. William Bovie, who in 1926 pioneered the use of electric current to make precise cuts with limited blood loss. The company and its products were at one time so dominant in the industry that surgeons referred to their electrosurgery equipment simply as their “Bovie,” Tampa Bay Business Journal reported in a 2006 profile of the company.
“The Bovie brand is synonymous with electrosurgery and recognized by hospitals and physicians worldwide,” Brian Straeb, president and CEO of Symmetry, said in a separate press release.
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As part of the agreement, J. Robert Saron, president and a director at Bovie, will resign from Bovie and join Symmetry. Bovie and Symmetry also have a transition service agreement and other agreements, including one that will establish Bovie as an original equipment manufacturing-provider of generators to Symmetry for at least 10 years.
Bovie will retain its advanced energy and OEM businesses, its facilities in Clearwater and in Sofia, Bulgaria, and certain intellectual property related to specialty generators.
Symmetry, a surgical instrumentation firm and a portfolio company of private equity firm RoundTable Healthcare Partners, says the deal allows it to address a wider range of its customers’ needs and establishes Symmetry as a key player in its markets.
Bovie acquired the rights to J-Plasma in the late 1990s. The technology uses a gas ionization process to produce a stable, focused beam of plasma that provides surgeons with greater precision, minimal invasiveness and an absence of conductive currents through the patient during surgery, according to the company. The company recently expanded its use to the cosmetic surgery market.
Bovie expects net proceeds of more than $70 million after taxes and transaction related expenses. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. Piper Jaffray & Co. is financial advisor to Bovie and Ruskin Moscou Faltischek is legal advisor for the deal.
Date: July 16, 2018
Source: bizjournals
