St. Jude Reduces Its Offer for Ventritex

St. Jude Medical Inc. cut its offer for Ventritex to about $365 million in stock because of problems with a Ventritex heart device that caused two deaths. Under the amended agreement, each Ventritex share would be exchanged for 0.5 of a St. Jude share, down from the 0.6 of a share, or $505 million, that St. Jude offered Oct. 23. Ventritex, which is based in Sunnyvale, is the nation’s third-largest maker of defibrillators, which use electricity to slow a too-fast heartbeat. Analysts said they had expected the re-pricing since the problems were announced. St. Paul, Minn.-based St. Jude is the world’s biggest maker of mechanical heart valves and the second-largest maker of heart pacemakers. St. Jude shares lost $1.125 to close at $33.375 on the New York Stock Exchange, while Ventritex shares fell 81.25 cents to close at $16.75 on Nasdaq.