St. Jude Medical Agrees to Acquire Thoratec

July 22, 2015—St. Jude Medical, Inc. and Thoratec Corporation announced that the Boards of Directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive agreement under which St. Jude Medical will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Thoratec for $63.50 per share in a cash transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. The transaction, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2015, is conditioned upon, among other things, Thoratec shareholder approval, regulatory approvals, and other customary closing conditions.

According to the companies, Thoratec’s products include its mechanical circulatory support technology for the treatment of advanced heart failure (HF), including ventricular assist devices for both chronic and acute patient support. Thoratec's HeartMate II left ventricular assist device, the next-generation HeartMate 3, the HeartMate percutaneous heart pump for high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention procedures, and other products will complement St. Jude Medical’s portfolio. St. Jude Medical’s HF portfolio includes cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices (the Quadripolar CRT-D and CRT-P), the MultiPoint pacing CRT technology, remote monitoring capabilities, and the CardioMems HF system.

On July 13, Thoratec announced European CE Mark approval of the HeartMate percutaneous heart pump device, as well as the approval for the United States SHIELD II investigational device exemption trial of the device, which is to begin during the third quarter of 2015.