Natus Acquires Leading Newborn Care Company in Latin America

Natus Medical (San Carlos, CA, USA) has announced that it has acquired Medix (Buenos Aires, Argentinar), a leader in the development, manufacturing, and sales of devices for newborn care in Latin America.

Natus has acquired all outstanding shares of Medix capital stock for U.S. $14 million in cash, exclusive of direct costs of the acquisition, with the potential for additional purchase consideration if certain revenue targets are met in 2011 and 2012; the acquisition was funded through available cash. Medix manufactures incubators for use in hospital nurseries and neonatal intensive care units, transport incubators for use in ambulances and other emergency vehicles, infant warmers, and light emitting diode (LED) based phototherapy devices.

"This acquisition positions Natus as a leader in newborn care in the growing Latin America marketplace. We believe this acquisition will allow us an efficient entry into the Brazilian market, which represents the seventh largest economy in the world,” said Jim Hawkins, president and CEO of Natus. "Expanding into the incubator and infant warmer markets enlarges our footprint in both the nursery and neonatal intensive care units of hospitals around the globe.”

"We plan to leverage our worldwide sales and distribution organization, as Medix currently generates less than ten percent of its revenue from outside of South America,” added Mr. Hawkins. "We believe the Medix product lines are ideal for many markets around the world. In addition, because many of their products have current FDA clearance, we may bring their products into the U.S. market through our direct sales force.”

Natus Medical is a leading provider of healthcare products used for the screening, detection, treatment, monitoring and tracking of common medical ailments in newborn care, hearing impairment, neurological dysfunction, epilepsy, sleep disorders, and balance and mobility disorders. Product offerings include computerized neurodiagnostic systems for audiology, neurology, polysomnography, and neonatology, as well as newborn care products such as hearing screening systems, phototherapy devices for the treatment of newborn jaundice, head-cooling products for the treatment of brain injury in newborns, and software systems for managing and tracking disorders and diseases for public health laboratories.

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