NationsHealth acquires Diabetes Care & Education

SUNRISE, Fla. NationsHealth on Tuesday announced that it has acquired Diabetes Care & Education, a provider of insulin pumps, pump supplies and blood glucose monitoring equipment.

"We are very excited about our acquisition of Diabetes Care & Education which supports our long-term goal of expanding our business into new areas of the diabetes patient market, as well as expanding our current product offerings to our customers," stated Glenn Parker, NationsHealth’s chief executive officer. "Through diabetes education, we will seek to partner with physicians thereby giving us greater access to future patient acquisition channels," he said. "We have now completed seven acquisitions since May 2007, and have used substantially all of the $5.5 million available to us under our term loan, which has provided NationsHealth access to over 13,000 new diabetes patients."

The addition of DC&E allows NationsHealth to expand its diabetes related offerings to its existing and future patient base, including its managed care customers, and offer blood glucose testing supplies to DC&E’s patient base. Management expects the acquisition to add over $10 million of revenue to NationsHealth in 2008.

Susan Hill, founder and president of DC&E, will lead NationsHealth’s and DC&E’s combined insulin pump and diabetes education programs. Hill has been an active member of the American Diabetes Association for 25 years, where she served as president of the South Carolina affiliate of the ADA, and is currently serving on the ADA’s Leadership Council in Louisville, Ky.

Under the terms of the agreement, NationsHealth purchased all of the issued and outstanding capital stock of DC&E for $2.5 million in cash and $0.5 million in shares of unregistered common stock of the Company. NationsHealth may also pay additional cash amounts based on annual revenue targets associated with DC&E’s pump and education operations in 2008, 2009 and 2010.