Lake Region Medical Joins with Greatbatch

Medical technology company Greatbatch (Frisco, TX, USA) will buy privately owned Lake Region Medical (Wilmington, MA, USA), in a deal valued at about USD 1.73 billion in cash and stock.

Starting out as a fishing-lure company in 1947, Lake Region Medical found success in the 1960’s when the family-run operation began manufacturing tightly coiled wires for some of the earliest pacemakers made by Medtronic (Dublin, Ireland); it went on to develop offerings in electrophysiology, vascular access, urology, oncology, orthopedics, laparoscopy, arthroscopy, and other fields. In March 2014, the company was acquired for USD 390 million by Accellent, a large supplier and strategic partner to the medical device industry, which changed its brand name to Lake Region Medical shortly after.

Greatbatch was founded by Wilson Greatbatch, who helped invent the first implantable pacemaker in 1961 and licensed it to Medtronic, whose own co-founder, Earl Bakken, had invented the first transistorized, wearable pacemaker four years earlier. Greatbatch went on to invent a lithium-iodine battery that greatly extended the life of pacemakers. The company now develops critical device technologies for cardiac, neuromodulation, vascular, and orthopedic markets, as well as batteries for high-end niche applications in the portable medical, energy, military, and environmental markets.

While the deal is slated to create one of the largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) outsourcing companies for medical technology in the world, it will still have a share of only about 10%–12% of the highly fragmented industry. The combined entity will sell OEM parts and manufacturing solutions to major medical device companies for cardiac-rhythm management, neuromodulation, and vascular, orthopedic and surgical therapies, with operations in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.

"The combination of Greatbatch and Lake Region Medical brings together two highly complementary organizations that can provide a new level of industry leading capabilities and services to OEM customers while building value for shareholders," said Thomas J. Hook, president and CEO of Greatbatch. “Through this transformative deal, we are going to be at the forefront of innovating technologies and products that help change the face of healthcare.”

“I am very proud of the Lake Region Medical team and what they have accomplished over many years,” said Donald Spence, CEO of Lake Region Medical. “I am confident the combination of Lake Region Medical and Greatbatch will form an even stronger entity with unmatched technology and manufacturing capabilities.”

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