Boston Scientific to buy majority stake in China's Acotec

Marlborough: U.S. medical device maker Boston Scientific Corp will make a partial offer for a majority stake of up to 65 per cent in Chinese medical technology company Acotec Scientific Holdings, the companies said.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2023, according to a joint statement on Sunday, comes amid a slowdown in merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. life sciences sector.

Boston Scientific said it would pay HK$20 ($2.57) a share, for a total cash payment of about $523 million, for a 65 per cent stake.

M&As have hit "multi-year lows" in 2022 in the U.S. life sciences and pharmaceutical industry, with annualized deal value almost halved from last year while annualized deal volumes fell 28 per cent, PwC said in a report on Thursday.

The accounting and consultancy firm said it expected activity in 2023 to "more closely resemble prior years".

The offer of HK$20 per share for Acotec is a premium of about 31.6 per cent over its last close, and about 135.5 per ent over the average close for the last 150 consecutive trading days, the Chinese firm told the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.

The deal is among several purchases this year by Boston Scientific, including a $615- million, debt-included deal to acquire Apollo Endosurgery Inc announced in November.

Citi and Somerley Capital respectively advised Boston Scientific and Acotec on the deal, Acotec said in its filing.