Arcapita enters equity investment, option to purchase agreement with St. Jude Medical

Arcapita, a global investment company, announced today that Atlanta-based CardioMEMS, an Arcapita Ventures portfolio company, has entered into an equity investment and option to purchase agreement with St. Jude Medical, a global medical device company.

“This transaction not only represents a successful event for our investors, it is also an opportunity for CardioMEMS to potentially expand its efforts in cardiac management under the expert ownership of St. Jude Medical.”

St. Jude Medical will make a $60 million equity investment in CardioMEMS, a medical device company that has developed a wireless sensing and communication technology to assess cardiac performance. Arcapita's Global Head of Venture Capital, John Huntz, worked closely with the management team to complete the transaction, which gives St. Jude Medical a 19 percent ownership in the company, as well as an exclusive option to purchase the remaining interest for $375 million.

"CardioMEMS has been one of the best performers in our portfolio, and we are extremely pleased that our participation over the past four years has helped shape the company into one of the leading providers of innovative remote medical management technology," Huntz said. "This transaction not only represents a successful event for our investors, it is also an opportunity for CardioMEMS to potentially expand its efforts in cardiac management under the expert ownership of St. Jude Medical."

Arcapita began its relationship with CardioMEMS in 2006 when Arcapita Ventures led an initial $22.6 million round of financing. CardioMEMS was launched at Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) and to this day is one of the program's most notable successes. Huntz will remain on the CardioMEMS Board of Directors as Chairman.

Jay S. Yadav, M.D., Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Director of CardioMEMS, said, "Arcapita has been a vital force behind our growth and expansion, and we are thankful that John and his team recognized our potential early-on and supported our development. As we look to the future, we are excited to have the support of a company like St. Jude Medical, with its significant expertise and focus in the areas of cardiac rhythm management, heart failure disease management and other cardiac technologies."

JP Morgan Securities LLC is acting as financial advisor to CardioMEMS and Cooley LLP as legal counsel.