Covidien to Pay $2.6 Billion for Device Maker Ev3 (Update4)

June 1 (Bloomberg) - Covidien Plc, the medical-equipment company spun off from Tyco International Ltd., agreed to buy ev3 Inc. for $2.6 billion to add products for heart disease.

Covidien will pay $22.50 a share in cash for Plymouth, Minnesota-based ev3, the companies said in a statement today. Dublin-based Covidien is paying 19 percent more than the May 28 closing price for ev3’s stock.

The acquisition will add ev3’s stents, angioplasty balloons, plaque removal systems, and catheters to treat disease of the arteries to Covidien’s product range, which specializes in staples, suture needles, wound care, scalpels and products used in surgery. The deal will give Covidien a bigger stake in the vascular surgery market, said Covidien Chief Executive Officer Richard Meelia in a conference call.

“Ev3 significantly expands our presence in the $3 billion peripheral vascular market and gives us a strong entry point into the $1 billion neurovascular market,” said Meelia. “As there is virtually no product overlap we foresee a very straight forward integration plan.”

Covidien fell $1.15, or 2.7 percent, to $41.24 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ev3 rose $3.30, or 17 percent, to $22.22. Ev3’s shares have increased 67 percent this year.

Meelia has been making acquisitions and divestitures since Covidien separated from Tyco in 2007 as he tries to reshape the company. In May, Covidien said it would sell its specialty chemicals business for $280 million after paying $485 million last year for Vnus Medical Technologies.

Acquisition Talks

Covidien had been following ev3 for more than a year and acquisition talks began several months ago, Meelia said. The bidding was competitive, he said.

“We will continue to look at deals in other areas that have the right kind of returns for us and add value,” Meelia said in a conference call.

The transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, the companies said. Ev3’s directors and officers plan to tender their shares, according to the statement. Warburg Pincus Equity Partners LP, which owns 24 percent of ev3, supports the deal, the companies said.

The purchase will reduce Covidien’s earnings per share this year and next, according to the statement.

Covidien said it has no plans to move any of ev3’s operations out of Minnesota. Ev3 had 1,350 employees at the end of 2009.


How to Break Into Pharmaceutical Sales: A Headhunter's Strategy

Monday - 4/5/2010
Tom Ruff's book "How to Break Into Pharmaceutical Sales: A Headhunter's Strategy" was just published in Turkey.  Congratulations Tom on the success of your book.

Click here to visit HowToBreakIntoPharmSales.com 


Sidney Bateman speaks at Boise State University on Interviewing Techniques: The Blueprint

Tuesday - 3/2/2010, Hatch A, Student Union Building
The Interviewing Blueprint and The Employer’s perspective. What are employers doing to weed through large numbers of candidates? How do they use social networking sites and what can you do to ensure you are making the cut? Take the stress out of interviewing; learn how to develop a quick and easy blueprint that will provide a strategy for every interviewing situation.

Click here for more information


BusinessWeek: When Recovery Comes, Early Job Growth Will Be in Health Care

July 20, 2009 - HEALTH CARE

If any industry represents a bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy, it’s health care. With baby boomers aging and health-care reform in the air, this industry is expected to be the largest single source of U.S. job growth through 2016, according to a new report by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Continue reading the full article...


The Top 3 Things you Must Know to be Competitive in Today’s Job Market
by: Mark Bartz

Article from Tom Ruff's interview with Mark Bartz at HealthcareReps.com


There is an old saying from Mark Twain: if you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed; if you read the newspaper you are misinformed. Our problem today is we have too much information – and too little time. So where do we get fresh intelligence about the challenges of today’s job market? If you are a pharmaceutical or a medical sales professional you have unique challenges in this regard. Walk into an interview unprepared – or send out your resume without knowing the following – at your own peril.

I wanted to know the latest information candidates (pharmaceutical or medical) need to know to be competitive in their job search, so I went to recruiter and author, Tom Ruff. My question was: what are the 3 things you’d want every candidate to know in today’s job market?

Continue reading this article...


The Bob Salter Radio Program In New York - Interview with Tom Ruff: Tools & Tips for Interviewing Success in Current Market & Tom's Book. 
WXRK 92.3 FM Listen Live: www.923now.com

Topics will include:

  1. Tom’s book - (How to Break Into Pharmaceutical Sale, A Head Hunters Strategy)

  2. The current job market.
For additional information please click here.



Top Selling Pharmaceutical Drugs For 2008

US $ in Billions 2008 (Total US Prescription Market: $291.5 Billion)

1. Lipitor $7.8
2. Nexium $5.9
3. Plavix $4.9
4. Advair Diskus $4.4
5. Seroquel $3.9
6. Singulair $3.5
7. Enbrel $3.4
8. Neulasta $3.1
9. Actos $3.1
10. Epogen $3.1
11. Prevacid $3.1
12. Abilify $3.1
13. Remicade $3.1
14. Effexor XR $3.0
15. Lexapro $2.7

Source: IMS Health


The top 10 drugmakers by sales
By The Associated Press March 10, 2009

Largest drugmakers by 2008 pharmaceutical sales, according to estimates by data company IMS Health.

1. Pfizer, $43.3 billion

2. GlaxoSmithKline, $36.5 billion

3. Novartis, $36.2 billion

4. Sanofi-Aventis, $35.6 billion

5. Roche, $30.3 billion

6. Johnson & Johnson, $29.4 billion

7. Merck & Co. $26.2 billion

8. Abbott, $19.5 billion

9. Eli Lilly, $19.1 billion

10. Amgen, $15.8 billion