Takeover Bid Made for Irvine Laser Firm : Acquisition: After merger talks fail, a Colorado company proposes a buyout of Advanced Interventional.

Advanced Interventional Systems Inc., a maker of surgical lasers for treating heart disease, said Friday that it is faced with a takeover attempt by a Colorado medical device firm--a day after the two companies broke off merger talks.

Bob Wall, Advanced Interventional chief executive, said his company, which has been suffering from slow sales and market uncertainties over health care reform, received a buyout proposal from Spectranetics Corp. in Colorado Springs.

Wall declined to say if Advanced Interventional was taking the offer seriously or if he considered the proposal a hostile takeover attempt. But he did point out that the terms offered by Spectranetics were not as enticing as those in the failed merger plan.

“The offer is way below that,” Wall said. Still, he said, Advanced Interventional’s board of directors will consider the bid.

The cash value of the takeover proposal was not immediately available. But Wall said that stockholders would receive 38% of Spectranetics common stock.

Advanced Interventional had considered a merger with Spectranetics, but backed off after a review of Spectranetics’ operations. That action forced Advanced Interventional to lay off 30% of its 100-person work force, including two top executives.

Wall said that the corporate restructuring will save the firm $1.6 million a year and allow it to continue operating, even with slower-than-expected sales. The company developed a laser that is used to clear clogged arteries near the heart, thus making it possible to avoid heart bypass surgery.

But at $269,000 a unit, sales of the state-of-the-art machine have been slower than company officials had anticipated when the laser was first approved for sale last year.

“We need to protect our superior technology and be able to survive tough times with the cash we have,” Wall said. “I believe we can do that now.”

Advanced Interventional stock closed Friday at $1.50 a share on the Nasdaq market, up 25 cents a share from Thursday.