A former executive at Plymouth, Minnesota-based ATS Medical (now part of Medtronic) has taken a position at a California medical device startup.The company — Santa Rosa-based Direct Flow Medical — announced that David Elizondo is the company’s new chief development officer. Previously, Elizondo was vice president of research & development, and general manager of Tissue [...]

Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) is a company in transition as it seeks higher growth in China and new therapies like transcatheter heart valves while trying to “protect and optimize” its core cardiac rhythm disease management (CRDM) business. On Tuesday, the Fridley, Minnesota, medical device maker said its profits sank 34 percent in the fiscal second quarter from a year ago. So it lowered its fiscal 2011 profit and sales forecasts.

On Wall Street, you’re only as good as your next acquisition. Try telling that to Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT). Over the past two years, the Fridley, Minnesota, medical device maker purchased nine companies: $700 million for CoreValve Inc., $370 million for ATS Medical Inc., $123 million for Osteotech Inc. — all small, “tuck-in” deals. The time is ripe for a big acquisition.

When you’re the richest kid on the block, it’s easy to make friends. For Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT), those friends happen to be investment bankers and venture capitalists. And the world’s largest medical device maker has been on an acquisition tear of late, using its considerable cash hoard to buy nine companies since 2009.

The shareholders of cardiovascular technology firm ATS Medical (NASDAQ: ATSI) voted in favor of the company’s $370 million sale to neighboring device giant Medtronic Inc. (NYSE: MDT).About 79 percent of the company’s outstanding shares were voted, with about 95 percent of those in approval of the $4-per-share deal, according to a statement from Plymouth, Minnesota-based [...]

If the United States truly wants to boost the economy and narrow its ginormous trade deficit, then medical technology would seem like a good place to start.Minnesota’s bread-and-butter industry generated a $5.4 billion trade surplus last year, one of the few American industries to do so. Which is why Obama administration officials visited Medtronic Inc. [...]

Given Wall Street’s turmoil of late, it’s not too surprising that buyers would search for bargains, especially struggling medical device companies with promising technology and awful balance sheets. Case in point: Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE: MDT) $370 million purchase of ATS Medical Inc. in Plymouth, Minn.But ev3 Inc. (NASDAQ: EVVV) and Virtual Radiological Corp. (NASDAQ: VRAD) [...]

There was every reason to expect Virtual Radiologic Corp. (NASDAQ: VRAD) to become Minnesota’s next medical technology star.The company, based in Eden Prairie, was one of the last local firms to go public, raising $68 million from its initial public offering in November 2007. Virtual was one of only two national players to dominate the [...]

Ernie Andberg has a little more free time on his hands these days.The long-time “emerging medical device companies” equity analyst for Feltl & Co. in Minneapolis has not seen a lot of companies emerging lately.In fact, they’ve been disappearing all together. Case in point: Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE: MDT) deal last week to acquire ATS Medical [...]

ATS Medical Inc. (NASDAQ:ATSI) stock has been a dog for quite a while, never rising above $5 a share since 2004. Yet some investors stand to profit handsomely from Medtronic Inc.’s (NYSE:MDT) proposed $370 million acquisition of the company.In 2007, ATS Medical, desperate for cash, sold stock to San Francisco venture capital firm Alta Partners [...]