Boston Scientific to Buy C.R. Bard Unit for $275 Million

Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) agreed to acquire C.R. Bard Inc.'s (BCR) electrophysiology business for $275 million in cash as it looks to expand in the fast-growing market for advanced electrophysiology procedures.

Medical-device maker Boston Scientific said electrophysiology is a $2.5-billion global market that is growing about 10% a year and Bard's electrophysiology unit generated 2012 sales of $111 million.

Boston Scientific said the deal supports its strategy to build a robust portfolio for cardiac catheter ablations and other electrophysiology tools for a variety of conditions in which the heart beats abnormally.

Boston Scientific expects to close the deal in the second half of this year and said it should boost 2014 adjusted per-share earnings by a penny.

Meanwhile, fellow medical-device maker Bard expects the sale to hurt its 2013 adjusted earnings by five cents a share.

Medical-equipment companies have suffered in recent years from economic austerity measures in Europe and a weakened U.S. economy, which has led health insurers and hospitals to seek lower prices and bigger discounts. Meanwhile, heart-procedure practice patterns have become more conservative among some cardiologists.

Shares of Boston Scientific and Bard closed Thursday at $9.22 and $108.55, respectively. Both were inactive premarket.

Write to Melodie Warner at [e-mail]

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