In the latest in cross-border M&A, Philadelphia-based electronics component maker Technitrol Inc. unveiled plans Tuesday for a $385 million cash deal for Denmark's Sonion A/S, which makes hearing devices. It's the latest run at dealmaking for Technitrol, which last year failed in a hostile takeover of Jersey City, N.J.-based electronics component maker Bel Fuse Inc. The target rejected a $514 million advance as too low.
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Meanwhile, on the VC front, nine-year-old Spark Ventures plc, a U.K. firm, is in talks with a potential strategic investor, which is expected to pump as much as $40 million into the company. And M/C Venture Partners-backed IT services group Attenda Ltd. is on the hunt for acquisitions, hiring a new corporate development director to take the lead. Full stories to follow on TheDeal.com.
And in healthcare: Britain's Healthcare Brands International Ltd. said Tuesday it has acquired privately owned Scandinavian generic drugmaker Antula Holdings AB for an undisclosed sum. Antula has quadrupled sales over the past four years, the buyer said. Stateside, St. Paul, Minn., medical device maker Synovis Life Technologies Inc. said Tuesday it will sell its interventional business to Vadnais Heights, Minn., catheter supplier Heraeus Vadnais Inc. for $29.5 million in cash. AmeriChoice, the Minneapolis public sector healthcare unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc., unveiled plans Tuesday to buy Unison Health Plans, a Pittsburgh-based HMO for public health programs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Delaware and South Carolina. Financial terms of the all-cash deal were not disclosed.
By way of licensing deals, Genzyme Corp. said Monday it has licensed the anti-cholesterol drug mipomersen from Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $325 million up-front. The deal calls for a one-time fee of $175 million and an equity purchase of 5 million shares at $30 a share. Seattle Genetics Inc. of Bothell, Wash., announced this week that it will receive a $4 million milestone payment from San Francisco collaborator Genentech Inc. New York biotech Ophthotech Corp., Biogen Idec Inc. and PDL BioPharma Inc. said Tuesday they have entered into a licensing agreement to develop an antibody to treat age-related eye diseases for undisclosed terms.
See TheDeal.com story on Technitrol-Sonion
