Ireland-based Covidien PLC has acquired device maker MindFrame Medical Inc. of Irvine for $75 million.
MindFrame designs and makes medical devices used in blood delivery and blood-clot removal in ischemic stroke patients. Its main device, the Capture, has been sold in Europe since late 2011.
Covidien was a “natural choice” to buy MindFrame, because it understands the market that MindFrame’s devices target, said Kenneth Charhut, who exited his chief executive post with the deal’s closing last month.
The transaction was disclosed in regulatory documents circulated last week.
Covidien wanted MindFrame and Capture to complement its ischemic stroke therapy product portfolio, Covidien spokesperson David Young said.
Adding MindFrame “will allow physicians to address the widest range of neurovascular anatomy possible,” Young said.
Covidien’s stroke devices include the Solitaire FR revascularization device, which restores blood flow, among other functions.
Solitaire is made at Covidien’s Irvine-based neurovascular operation.
Covidien did not say when it would seek Food and Drug Administration approval for Capture, which already has European and Australian regulatory clearance. Charhut said the device maker’s revenue was “over seven figures” at the time of the sale.
MindFrame raised $18 million since 2007 through investors, including San Francisco-based SV Life Sciences and hospital-connected groups such as the investment arm of Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, owned by Fountain Valley-based Memorial HealthCare.
Most to Stay
The majority of MindFrame’s 14 workers will stay on under Covidien, Charhut said.
“I have moved on,” he said. “This is what entrepreneurial CEOs do.”
Charhut is a former executive of Baxter International Inc.’s cardiovascular division—now Edwards Lifesciences Corp.—and heart-device maker Orqis Medical Inc. He continues to serve as chairman of San Clemente-based ReShape Medical Inc., which is working on weight-loss devices.
Covidien, which has its U.S. headquarters in Mansfield, Mass., opened a research and development center for its neurovascular unit in the Irvine Spectrum at the end of April. The center opened with 70 workers, with plans to add another 100 within a year.
Covidien, which bought Costa Mesa-based ventilator maker Newport Medical Inc. for $108 million in March, has more than 500 workers in Orange County locations, including its main local office on Toledo Way in Irvine. Covidien got the Toledo building as part of its 2010 buy of Minnesota-based Ev3 Inc. for $2.6 billion.
