Orange County

Together at Last? Shareholders of health-care industry rivals Tokos Medical Inc. of Santa Ana and Healthdyne Inc. of Marietta, Ga., will vote Wednesday in separate meetings on a proposed merger. The new company, to be called Matria Healthcare Inc., would be headquartered in Marietta. Tokos and Healthdyne, which provide home care to women with high-risk pregnancies, each employ about 1,000 people. Officials say 375 jobs will be cut if the merger proceeds, with Tokos’ 300-employee corporate staff in Santa Ana to be “significantly affected.” The companies started merger talks two years ago, as both faced losses in a rapidly consolidating industry. Top executives met in Dallas in February 1994 to discuss consolidation, but Tokos backed out a week later, according to the companies’ financial filings. Healthdyne then offered to buy Tokos, but was rebuffed twice. Discussions ceased until last June, when a new deal was struck. It provides for shareholders of each company to receive one share in the new company in exchange for every share they now hold. Tokos shareholders meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Windsor/Embassy Suites Hotel in Santa Ana.