On Nov. 18, 2010, AGA Medical was acquired by St. Jude Medical for $1.3 billion in cash. The company, based in Plymouth, Minnesota, designed and sold small devices that closed defects i

At $20.80 per share, the deal values AGA Medical shares at a 41 percent premium to the previous Friday’s closing price. The companies valued the deal at about $1.3 billion, including the assumption of about $225 million in debt. The company was founded by Kurt Amplatz, MD and son-in-law Frank Gougeon in 1997.

Amplatz invented the Amplatzer Septal Occluder that is inserted by percutaneous catheter placement, thus avoiding open heart surgery. Amplatz, who was a professor of radiology at the University of Minnesota from 1957 to 1997, was a world-renowned pioneer in interventional radiology and pediatric cardiology.