Latest New York Transplant: $100 Million In Investments For South Florida Medtech Companies

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A torrent of venture capital money continues to stream into Miami.

Latest to join is Ceros Financial Services, a financial advisory group that is raising $100 million over the next 12 months to fund emerging medical technology companies in South Florida and beyond.

Ceros’ first investment is in a name familiar to many in Miami’s medical technology sector: Memic Innovative Surgery, a robot-assisted surgery company based in Fort Lauderdale and Israel that is chaired by Maurice R. Ferré. Ceros is leading a $96 million investment in the company, which plans to have as many as 200 employees in the coming years.

“We think it’s going to be a unicorn,” said Ceros co-founder Mark Goldwasser, referring to the tech term to describe a company worth at least $1 billion.

Goldwasser, who is moving to Miami from New York, and business partner Chris Dewey were early investors in Mako Surgical, which Ferré co-founded. Mako, a medtech pioneer, was acquired by Stryker Corp. in 2013 for $1.65 billion and helped kick off the current wave of Miami tech momentum.

“South Florida has the geography and demographics to be the next medtech hub,” Ferré, son of the former Miami mayor of the same name, said in a statement. He could not be reached for additional comment.

Ceros has already invested $65 million in the past 14 months in companies, including Dania Beach-based OrthoSensor, whose device provides real-time data during knee-surgery operations; Miami-based Dermasensor, which uses advanced technology to evaluate skin lesions for cancer; and Ferré’s current company, INSIGHTEC, which uses ultrasound technology for non-invasive brain surgery.

Goldwasser is scouting office space in Miami to headquarter Ceros.

“Ceros is looking to capitalize on Miami’s burgeoning tech, finance, and medical ecosystem, alongside its pro-business climate,” Goldwasser said. “Miami-area hospitals are hungry to grow and innovate. We’re seeing this huge wave here for economic reasons, lifestyle reasons — people my age, in their early 60s, are realizing they don’t need to be in New York anymore. You just need a laptop, tablet and a cellphone.”

Goldwasser most recently led National Holdings Corp., a New York-based parent corporation of several affiliated financial services companies.

 

Source: Miami Herald

Healthpeak Properties Makes $371 Million, 14-MOB, 833,000 Square Foot Portfolio Acquisition

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Healthpeak has not revealed the specific properties that were part of its 14-MOB portfolio acquisition. But in its “Q1 Earnings Release and Supplemental Report,” the cover photo caption states that the property shown, which HREI has determined to be 601 Watkins Centre Parkway in Midlothian, Va., occupied by Bon Secours Mercy Health, was acquired in April. The timing and health system affiliation are consistent with what the REIT reported about the transaction. (PHOTO CREDIT: Healthpeak)

In a significant deal that took place in recent weeks, Denver-based Healthpeak Properties Inc. on April 30 acquired a 14-property, 833,000 square foot medical office building (MOB) portfolio for $371 million.

News of the purchase surfaced in the Q1 earnings report recently released by the publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) as well as during the REIT’s May 5 earnings call with securities analysts, during which officials discussed certain aspects of the acquisition.

In its Q1 earnings report, Healthpeak notes that the deal was an “off-market” one and that the facilities are all on hospital campuses or are in off-campus locations but affiliated with “investment grade health systems.”

The MOBs, according to Healthpeak’s Q1 report, are heavily concentrated in the markets of Minneapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Dallas.

 

Source: HREI

Lawmakers Make Expanding Or Opening New Hospitals In Tennessee Easier, Partly After Pleas From Rural Communities

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Opening or expanding a new hospital in Tennessee just got a bit easier.

State law requires health systems to prove their new facilities are needed, but lawmakers updated those rules, in part because of hospital closures in rural communities.

Unlike many businesses, reviving a hospital is a big bureaucratic lift. And obtaining what’s called a “certificate of need” from the state is one of the hassles. Sen. Page Walley, R-Bolivar, has several hospitals in his West Tennessee district that have been unable to reopen.

“This is going to relieve one of those impediments,” Walley said during the vote this week on final passage. “They are not going to have to go through that multi-month or even year process.”

The new law passed by the legislature, Senate Bill 1281, exempts the state’s most distressed counties from the certificate of need program.

Otherwise, the legislation — which took several years of negotiating with interested parties — is intended to streamline and modernize the process. It consolidates two oversight bodies and makes some attempts at updating rules to reflect the state of modern medicine, such as how to handle outpatient addiction treatment.

There have been efforts to do away with certificates of need, which don’t exist in Texas and 11 other states. The process has often been accused of stifling competition. Especially as more health systems try to build free-standing emergency departments, certificate of need laws have prevented some expansions in the Nashville area.

But Tennessee will continue to require hospitals, nursing homes and even hospice agencies to show there’s a need for their services in the area and to allow competitors to object.

 

Source: 91.3fm wkms