IVow, a financially troubled bariatric surgery consulting and management company in San Diego, has agreed to be sold for $3.5 million to Crdentia, a Dallas nurse and health staffing company, the companies announced yesterday.
IVow also announced the resignation of its president and chief executive, Michael H. Owens. A statement from the company said Owens had decided to “pursue alternative interests,” and it gave no indication whether his departure was related to the company's sale.
Telephone messages seeking comment, left yesterday afternoon with two other iVow senior executives, were not returned.
The sale is subject to a final merger agreement and approval by iVow shareholders.
Crdentia will pay for the deal with shares of its common stock, which are traded over the counter. They were unchanged at 75 cents yesterday in trading over the counter.
Crdentia Chairman and Chief Executive James Durham stepped down yesterday from iVow's board of directors, a position he had held for the past two years.
IVow shares rose 1 cent after yesterday's announcements to close at 99 cents on the Nasdaq.
The company in August reported that its second-quarter losses grew 22 percent to $589,248 on revenue that more than doubled to $746,110.
Formerly known as Vista Medical Technologies, iVow was created in 1993 mainly to develop laparoscopic technology for minimally invasive surgical procedures. By 2004, the company's focus had shifted exclusively to providing consulting services to hospitals that offer gastric bypass surgery, an increasingly popular and lucrative procedure for helping morbidly obese people lose weight.
While the number of gastric bypass surgeries performed annually in the United States jumped from 16,000 in 1995 to 170,000 in 2005, the procedure was performed on less than 1 percent of people considered obese enough to undergo the surgery, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.
The industry received a boost in February when Medicare announced it would begin covering bariatric surgery for beneficiaries younger than 60 who qualify for the procedure and seek care from a certified center.
IVow's Web site lists three bariatric surgery centers managed by the company at hospitals in Brawley, New York and Richmond, Va. The company's most recent annual report to shareholders says it has assisted with the development of 60 centers since 2001.
IVow moved its headquarters in February from Carlsbad to a building on El Camino Real in San Diego. The company employed 24 workers at the time, including six at its surgical centers.
Keith Darce: (619) 293-1020; keith.darce@uniontrib.com
