October 23, 2012

IBM, Sysmex, Fuji and Stryker all put Israeli start-ups on their shopping lists this week.

IBM is in advanced talks to buy Red Bend Software – the Israeli provider of mobile phone software — for a reported $250 million. The deal would be IBM’s 12th acquisition in Israel.

Red Bend provides standards-based products and solutions for software management, device management and mobile virtualization that work on any mobile phone and connected device securely over the air. Intel, LG Electronics, Motorola, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sharp and Sony Ericsson are among the company’s 80 customers.

Red Bend recently took 11th place in the 2012 Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar Israel Technology Fast 50 competition, one of the industry’s foremost technology award programs. The market leader in Mobile Software Management was recognized for its sustained revenue growth of 169 percent over five years.

In related news, Japan’s Fujinon, a unit of Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, is reportedly in talks to buy Given Imaging for $750m. But according to a Globes report, IDB controlling shareholder Nochi Dankner won’t sell the company for less than $1 billion.

Given Imaging's gold standard capsule endoscopy.

Given Imaging is a world leader in developing and marketing patient-friendly solutions for visualizing and detecting disorders of the GI tract. It is best known for its PillCam (aka capsule endoscopy) for diagnosis of the small and large intestine.

Meanwhile, Sysmex – the Japanese global supplier of health care instrumentation and Integrated Information Systems – is in advanced talks to acquire Dune Medical Devices of Caesarea, according to a Calcalist report today.

Dune Medical develops surgical devices and techniques for real-time, intra-operative optimization of excisions in surgical oncology procedures. The Israeli company recently received pre-market approval from the US Food and Drug Administration for MarginProbe, its trademarked system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify possibly cancerous tissue on the edges of a breast tumor in real time.

Rounding out the expected acquisitions is US medical device maker Stryker’s deal to purchase Surpass Medical — which develops stent technology for treatment of brain aneurysms — for $100 million in cash, plus up to $35 million in milestone payments.

“The acquisition of Surpass Medical further builds on Stryker`s global platform in the fast growing and highly innovative neurovascular market and helps broaden our offering in Complete Stroke Care,” said Kevin A. Lobo, president and chief executive officer. “We remain committed to furthering care in the interventional neurovascular space by offering patients and caregivers differentiated products that improve outcomes and help save lives.”

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