Shop Pockets Medical Device Maker After Road Test

A bit of unusual due diligence gaveWater Street Capital Partnersthe assurance it needed before acquiring medical device makerFacet Technologiesfor $122 million in cash.Chris Sweeney, principal at the Chicago private equity firm, saw the marketability of the products when a nurse painlessly snipped the tip of his finger with one of Facet's lancing devices, intended to draw blood with minimal pain from the fingers of diabetics to measure their glucose. "You wouldn't describe it as painful; it's more of a tingle," Sweeney said. "That's when we scratched our heads and said, 'We want to be a part of this business.'"

Water Street stepped into an auction of Facet which had stalled, in part due to concerns a new class of products called continuous glucose monitoring threatened the traditional means of glucose monitoring in which Facet specializes. The firm eventually decided the new technology was not a fundamental risk to traditional glucose monitoring, Sweeney said.Bill Taylor, the president of Facet, will become ceo under the new arrangement.