Rochester Medical Closes Pair of Acquisitions

Rochester Medical Corp. said it has closed two previously announced acquisitions and several related supply and licensing deals, according to the Associated Press. The Stewartville, Minn.-based company has acquired certain assets from Coloplast related to the sale of male external catheters in the United Kingdom, including the Clear Advantage, Freedom, Freedom Plus and Transfix catheter brands. Privately held Rochester Medical makes latex-free disposable medical catheters and devices for urological and continence-care applications. Denmark-based Coloplast acquired those assets in its recently completed purchase of Mentor Corp.’s urology business. Rochester Medical has also agreed to supply silicone male external catheters to Coloplast, which will sell them under Coloplast’s brands outside the United Kingdom. In a separate transaction, Rochester Medical has acquired certain operating assets of Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Mentor Corp.’s silicone external catheter manufacturing facility in Anoka. Under that deal, Rochester Medical and Mentor have terminated the patent license granted under previous agreements between the companies, and Mentor has transferred to Rochester Medical all intellectual property related to manufacturing and sale of silicone male external catheters at the Anoka facility. Also, Rochester Medical and Coloplast have entered into a cross-license agreement related to certain patents held by each company for the purpose of avoiding future patent-infringement claims by either party.