ICU Medical To Buy Pfizer Unit in $1 Billion Deal

ICU Medical Inc. agreed to buy Pfizer Inc.'s infusion-systems business in a $1 billion cash-and-stock deal, giving the California medical-device maker a larger footprint in the global market.

Under the deal's terms, ICU Medical will acquire Pfizer's Hospira Infusion Systems business for $400 million in newly issued shares. This would give Pfizer a 16.6% stake in ICU Medical and the right to nominate one director to the company's board. ICU Medical also will pay Pfizer $600 million in cash.

ICU Medical manufactures medical devices used in oncology, vascular therapy and critical care. These include IV systems, needlefree IV connectors, catheters and cardiac-monitoring systems.

The Pfizer unit is ICU Medical's largest customer. Pfizer acquired Hospira Infusion Systems, which makes IV pumps, solutions and devices, as part of its $16 billion deal to buy drugmaker Hospira Inc.

The purchase would "eliminate our single customer concentration issue" and "create a pure-play infusion business with the focus and scale to compete globally," said ICU Medical Chief Executive Vivek Jain.

The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. Pfizer agreed to certain restrictions on the transfer of its ICU Medical shares for at least 18 months following the deal's close.

ICU Medical also updated its outlook, following preliminary third-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street expectations. ICU Medical now expects full-year results to come in slightly above the high end of its previously announced guidance of $370 million in revenue and $4.60 in adjusted earnings per share.

For the third quarter, ICU Medical said it expects to report adjusted per-share earnings of $1.20 on revenue of $96 million. Analysts, polled by Thomson Reuters, expected $89 million in revenue and $1.09 a share in profit for the period.

ICU Medical shares, which have climbed 19% in the past 12 months, were inactive premarket.

Write to Joshua Jamerson at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 06, 2016 10:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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