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Inari shares rise nearly 20% on acquisition news

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Deal could enhance Stryker's venous disease treatment offerings

(Recasts first paragraph to change sourcing and updates shares in paragraph 5)

By Anirban Sen

NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Stryker said on Monday that the medical-device maker

will buy Inari Medical ( NARI ), which makes devices that treat patients with venous diseases,

in a $4.9 billion deal.

The deal for Inari, which has a market value of nearly $3 billion, would bolster Stryker's

efforts to build out its offerings to treat a condition called venous thromboembolism, where a

blood clot forms in a vein, and other venous diseases.

Inari has been working with its advisers to explore a sale in recent weeks after fielding

inbound acquisition interest from Stryker and other parties, the sources said, cautioning that

another suitor could approach Inari and it is possible that no deal with any party is reached.

Inari's shares jumped nearly 20% in after-hours trading on the news on Monday. Before

Monday's gains, the company's shares, which have been trading in New York since 2020, had lost

roughly 21% of their value over the past 12 months, outperforming a bigger decline in the S&P

500 Health Care Equipment index.

The deal comes amid a surge in demand for medical implant devices in recent years, as more

people in the United States, particularly older adults, increasingly opt for surgical treatments

that were previously deferred during the pandemic, leading to a boost in procedural volumes.

Irvine, California-based Inari, which was founded in 2013, is a maker of devices and systems

that treat patients suffering from conditions including pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis

and in-stent thrombosis, which is a complication that occurs when blood clots form in coronary

stents.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Inari reported revenue growth of 21% and swung to an

operating loss of $13.6 million, but forecast that it would break even by the end of the fourth

quarter on robust demand for devices.

Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Stryker, which has a market value of about $138 billion, is a

medical technology giant that makes devices for orthopedics, neurotechnology and spinal

procedures.

In its most recent quarterly earnings, Stryker raised its annual profit forecast, banking on

strong demand for its medical and surgical devices and robust procedural volumes.