NEW YORK, May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Medcare, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of diagnostic equipment for sleep treatment centers, today announced that it has acquired 100% interest in SleepTech, LLC, a Kinnelon, New Jersey-based manager of hospital-owned sleep treatment centers, and developer of web-based diagnostic measurement and management solutions -- the largest in the tri-state area.
The shareholders of SleepTech will receive cash and stock worth approximately $25 million. As a group, SleepTech’s owners will become one of the largest shareholders of Medcare, the shares of which are listed for trading on the stock exchange in Reykjavik (Iceland), where Medcare is headquartered.
As a result of the acquisition, Medcare, as it is known in North America, expects its revenues to increase to the rate of $35 million annually. Medcare’s chief executive officer, Svanbjorn Thoroddsen will relocate to the United States, where 70% of the company’s revenues are expected to be generated.
“This acquisition transforms us from a maker of diagnostic equipment to a provider of comprehensive sleep solutions,” said Thoroddsen. “SleepTech’s sleep centers are a proving ground for developing a platform of sleep solutions that we will share with all players in the sleep business. Our aim is to partner not to compete.”
New Strategic Direction
Medcare also announced a new strategic direction that will make it the largest company to focus on the needs of the rapidly growing field of sleep medicine in North America, which is projected to more than double in the next several years. Sleep disorders affect 79 million Americans, about 28% of the US population, yet less than 15% of those are being diagnosed and treated.
Medcare will form a North American operating company, with its new acquisition as its base, to be known as SleepTech Solutions. It will be the first to focus on delivery of comprehensive solutions for sleep professionals and entrepreneurs interested in entering the sleep business.
To be based in Kinnelon, NJ, SleepTech Solutions will comprise Medcare’s existing North American diagnostic equipment sales and customer service operations, SleepTech’s existing network of hospital-owned sleep centers and a platform of new solutions that will be offered to professionals and operators in the field of sleep medicine, which have been developed by SleepTech and are being tested in SleepTech-managed centers.
SleepTech provides turn-key management services to hospital-owned sleep centers. It provides the technical components of a sleep study, the results of which are used by sleep physicians to determine proper patient treatment.
SleepTech Solutions will be headed by Vyto Kab, former New York Giants end, who along with his wife Patricia (who will continue with the company in a leadership role), founded SleepTech. SleepTech is the largest manager of hospital-owned sleep centers in the New York Area. The Kabs were co-authors of a ground-breaking study of National Football League players, which definitively linked sleep disordered breathing and young athletes with large body masses. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in January, 2003.
President of Medcare US, Bill Burzelewski will manage the transition to the new entity, and will subsequently serve and become an advisor to it.
“SleepTech Solutions will introduce new platforms that will be fast to implement, easy to use and will help many increase the quality, efficiency and consistency of sleep diagnosis and data management,” said Vyto Kab. “To be successful, our emphasis must be on the collaboration with a wide range of participants in sleep medicine.”
About Medcare
Medcare is a global leader in the development, manufacture and sale of sleep diagnostic solutions. Doctors, research facilities and hospitals use these solutions to diagnose sleep disorders, the most common of these being insomnia and sleep apnea. Suffering from a sleep disorder is one of the most serious health issues today and the market for sleep diagnostic solutions is growing rapidly. Medcare sells directly through its corporate offices in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Iceland but also has over 60 distributors around the world. Medcare will have approximately 215 employees after the merger with SleepTech, and the company’s headquarters are in Iceland. For more information, visit http://www.medcare.com/.
About SleepTech, LLC
Founded in 1993 by Vyto and Patricia Kab, SleepTech, LLC, is the largest provider of sleep disorders diagnostics and treatment services in the New York Area. SleepTech establishes long-term relationships with partnering healthcare facilities to create full-service sleep centers that are dedicated to the management of sleep medicine -- by fulfilling their mission of fostering the “gold standard” of safe and accurate diagnostics and treatment of sleep disorders. For more information, visit http://www.sleeptech.com/.
Medcare; SleepTech, LLC
CONTACT: Channa Luma, The Weiser Group, cluma@weisergroup.com,+1-202-641-6959, for Medcare and SleepTech, LLC
