Boston Scientific completes $1.6 billion deal for AMS men's health devices

Boston Scientific Corp. has wrapped up its acquisition of three men's health devices from Minnetonka-based American Medical Systems, creating a new division expected to bring in sales of nearly $1 billion a year.

The Massachusetts device company paid $1.6 billion in upfront cash to buy AMS' devices to treat noncancerous enlarged prostates, erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence. Boston Scientific will pay another $50 million if the devices hit sales targets in 2016.

It's not yet clear how the deal will affect the roughly 350 employees who work for AMS in Minnetonka, who join a 1,200-person department in Massachusetts. Boston Scientific already has a strong presence in Minnesota, with 5,000 employees in the Twin Cities whose divisions are responsible for about two-thirds of the company's sales.

"As we work to figure out the future footprint together, we certainly could make decisions to transition, move or resource work differently, which could result in some reductions or job changes," Karen Prange, president of the Boston Scientific's urology and women's health division, said in an interview. "But we're obviously very committed to making sure that we make the right decisions first and foremost, so it's going to take a little time to do that."

The deal is expected to create savings and sales synergies of $50 million a year by the end of 2018. Boston Scientific is expecting it to add 3 cents of earnings per share next year, and 7 cents per share in 2017. Last year, sales of devices being acquired by Boston Scientific generated adjusted income of about $130 million on $400 million in sales.

"Urology is a healthy, growing market. The companies together will have … devices to treat 50 percent of all urology surgical procedures," Prange said.

The seller is Dublin-based pharmaceutical company Endo International, which paid $2.9 billion to buy AMS just four years ago. At the time, Endo said it was hoping to diversify its mix of health care products for urology patients.

Since then, a new executive team at Endo has found it difficult to tie sales of medical devices and drugs together. And recently, thousands of product-liability claims have mounted against AMS' ­pelvic surgical mesh devices for women, which Endo has set aside $1.39 billion to resolve. Several state attorneys general have issued subpoenas in a civil investigation.

"The combination of those issues might have been enough for them to throw in the towel on the device side," stock analyst Tao Levy of Wedbush Securities said of Endo's decision to sell off its medical-device assets from the AMS deal.

Boston Scientific is not acquiring the AMS women's health business, which remains for sale under a plan approved by the Endo board of directors in February.

Levy said the three men's health devices that Boston Scientific is acquiring will fit well with its existing business in treating kidney stones and pelvic-floor disorders in women.

Globally, sales of medical devices to treat urologic and pelvic-health conditions comprise a $4 billion market that is expected to grow between 4 percent and 6 percent annually through 2019, according to market information cited by Boston Scientific in ­presentations to investors earlier this year.

Boston is counting on solid performance from its expanded urology and ­pelvic health division to reach its overall company target of 5 percent to 9 percent operational revenue growth in 2016, according to slides filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

While Boston Scientific executives plan to make investments in the AMS product portfolio they bought Tuesday, that won't preclude further acquisitions to expand growth, fitting with the recent high level of interest in mergers in the medical device business overall.

"There are a lot of small technology companies out there continuing to do some innovative things that create value for the health care system, and so we continue to look at opportunities to expand," Prange said.