VentureBeat

TODAY’S HEADLINES:

• Israel’s Alma Lasers files for $86M IPO (Edgar)
• Allscripts acquires hospital-management software co. ECIN for $90M (release)
• AgaMatrix, glucose-sensor maker, raises $24M (PE Hub)

Israel’s Alma Lasers files for $86M IPO — Alma Lasers, an Israeli maker of lasers for cosmetic procedures, filed to raise $86.3 million in an initial offering. The company, based in Caesarea, calls its products “energy-based aesthetic treatment systems,” and sells them to dermatologists for hair removal and wrinkle treatment.

Alma markets its products in 64 countries, including the U.S., and says it has sold more than 3,300 systems since 1999. In a departure for this sort of company, Alma turned a profit in 2004 and 2005, and was also profitable in the first nine months of 2007, pulling in net income of $15.3 million on revenues of $62 million in that period.

Alma’s established business may make it an easier sell for investors than similar companies that have tried to go public recently. Reliant Technologies, for instance, a Mountain View, Calif., laser company we covered here, here and here, yanked its IPO filing in November.

AgaMatrix, glucose-sensor maker, raises $24M — AgaMatrix, a Salem, N.H., maker of blood-glucose sensor devices, raised $23.7 million in a third funding round, PE Hub reports, citing a regulatory filing. Investors include Ferrer Freeman & Co., Notable International and Collaborative Seed & Growth Partners.

AgaMatrix makes and sells a line of blood-sugar testing devices for diabetics under the WaveSense brand. The main selling point for these particular testers appears to be their data-management capabilities, which allow diabetics to download and analyze their blood-sugar readings over a period of time. AgaMatrix’s “Zero-Click” software, for instance, automatically identifies a glucose meter once it’s plugged in, downloads data into a user profile and instantly displays charts that help diabetics spot trends in their blood-sugar levels.

AgaMatrix is also developing a new wireless version of its meters it calls the Jazz Codeless, which apparently does away with the need for a cable. That device hasn’t yet received marketing approval from the FDA, however. Other startups, however, have greater ambitions — see, for instance, our coverage of Pelikan Technologies, which aims to reduce the pain associated with blood drawing for testing via a computer-controlled lance, here.

Meda, a Swedish specialty-pharmaceutical company, agreed to acquire MedPointe, another specialty pharma in Somerset, N.J., for roughly $820 million in cash and stock. Meda’s release — and be careful, as it’s a little difficult to slog through even though it’s (ostensibly) written in English — is here (PDF). (One hint for the baffled: “MUSD” stands for “millions of U.S. dollars.”)

MedPointe was backed by several private-equity firms — the Carlyle Group, the Cypress Group and Ferrer Freeman & Co. — as well as traditional venture capitalists Frazier Healthcare Ventures. These four investors will all become shareholders in Meda.

Meda will pay MedPointe’s shareholders $520 million in cash and issue them 17.5 million Meda shares as well. At the stock’s recent close of 115 Swedish krona on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, the stock portion of the deal is worth roughly $300 million U.S. dollars.

MedPointe will become Meda’s main U.S. affiliate. Its net sales were $252 million in 2006, 23 percent higher than the previous year. MedPointe sells antihistamine nasal sprays, epilepsy drugs, muscle relaxants and cough suppressants. It has 710 employees, approximately 500 of which are in sales and marketing.