Arterial Vascular to Buy C.R. Bard Unit

Arterial Vascular Engineering Inc. said it’s buying C.R. Bard Inc.’s coronary catheter laboratory business for about $550 million in cash to expand its presence in the medical-products market. Arterial Vascular is the nation’s No. 2 maker of stents, small devices used to prop open once-clogged arteries. Murray Hill, N.J.-based Bard, which makes health-care products, said its catheter lab business had sales of about $215 million in 1997. Though Santa Rosa-based Arterial Vascular has made a name for itself in the stent industry, its sales are dwarfed by those of larger medical-device makers such as Guidant Corp., the No. 1 U.S. stent maker. The purchase of the Bard unit will give Arterial Vascular more heft in the industry for treating heart and blood-vessel disease. Shares of Arterial Vascular surged $3.25 to close at $42 on Nasdaq; Bard shares fell 69 cents to $39.81 on the NYSE.