Medtronic buys another piece of the Mazor robot-assisted spine surgery startup

Mazor 2Mazor X unveiling triggers another $20m from Medtronic (MassDevice)

Medtronic paid $20 million for a 3.4% stake in Mazor at $21.84 apiece, the trailing 20-day average for MZOR shares, the Caesarea, Israel-based company said. It’s part of a 2-stage deal struck with the world’s largest pure-play medtech maker back in May.

The 1st phase of the deal calls for Medtronic to acquire 15 Mazor systems in 2016 and makes Medtronic Mazor’s sole partner for developing and commercializing robot-assisted spine surgery devices.

The 2nd phase is a 3-step equity investment in Mazor; including the payment announced today, the 2nd step in the equity phase, Medtronic has spent $31.9 million acquiring a 7.27% stake in Mazor.

“Since signing the agreements in May our 2 organizations have been working closely to ensure a successful partnership,” CEO Ori Hadomi said in prepared remarks. “This investment by Medtronic reflects a key operating achievement – the unveiling of the Mazor X surgical assurance platform – and in just a few short weeks we have received many inquiries from new surgeons, as well as interest from our existing Renaissance user base. The feedback is overwhelmingly positive and we plan to launch Mazor X at the [North American Spine Society] conference this October. I am confident it will advance and change the way spine surgery is performed.”

The 2nd equity investment was triggered by the launch of the Mazor X system in July, Mazor said.

When the deal was announced in May, Mazor said the 3rd step in the equity stage would be at its discretion, after the 2nd investment and a global distribution agreement, for up to 5% more at the same trailing-20-day price. As with the 2nd tranche, Medtronic can cap the 3rd tranche at $20 million.

Mazor, which had $47.5 million in cash and equivalents as of June 30, said that amount would swell to about $65 million after Medtronic’s 2nd investment.

MZOR shares ticked up 0.3% to $23.93 today in early pre-market trading.