An H.I.G. Capital (H.I.G.) affiliate has completed the acquisition of ZimVie Inc.’s Spine division and has renamed the new independent entity HIGHRIDGE Medical.
 
Headquartered in Westminster, Colo., HIGHRIDGE develops, manufactures, and delivers products and solutions designed to treat a wide range of spine pathologies. The company has a portfolio of bone healing therapies and will be led by a team of seasoned executives from the medical device industry: Glen Kashuba will be CEO and Rebecca Whitney will continue as president. Eric Major, founder and former K2M Group Holdings CEO, will serve as executive board chairman and Chris O’Connell, former executive vice president and group president at Medtronic plc and CEO of Waters Corporation, will also join the company’s Board of Directors.
 
“HIGHRIDGE has a robust foundation of spine solutions supported by extensive clinical evidence and patient outcomes to build upon. The company is committed to improving spine care by investing in R&D, product innovation and introducing additional product offerings to restore mobility and alleviate pain for patients around the world,” Kashuba said. “We believe our partnership with H.I.G. to create the largest privately held spine business in the industry will generate lasting benefits for distributors, surgeons, and patients.”

Kashuba has more than 30 years of experience in medical devices, working as a CEO (privately held Cerapedics Inc.) and divisional president with Johnson & Johnson and Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc. in various markets including orthopedics, neurosurgery, and cardiology. His experience also includes company board positions and a successful track record as a small company entrepreneur.

Whitney joined HIGHRIDGE after progressive leadership roles with Zimmer Biomet’s Spine and ASC businesses over the past eight years. She brings strong strategic commercial experience in the medical device and healthcare sectors from companies including BD Medical Systems, C.R. Bard, Galen Partners, and Covidien. “We are excited to begin this next chapter with H.I.G. The current management team has made significant progress across the organization, and we are encouraged by the growth opportunities ahead for our business,” Whitney stated. “We believe this partnership will solidify HIGHRIDGE’s position and will deliver increased value to the surgeons and patients we serve.”

Major is an experienced entrepreneur, chief executive, and chairman with a passion for entrepreneurship and disruptive technologies. He is an energetic leader who enjoys working with high-caliber teams to create and scale businesses. Major’s experience includes startup development, early-stage angel and private placement funding, venture capital, private equity, IPO, public company management, public and private board leadership, global operations, M&A, and integration strategy and management. As president of Stryker Spine, Major led an executive team from legacy Stryker Spine and legacy K2M through the integration of these businesses to post acquisition-driven growth. He joined Stryker as part of the company’s 2018 $1.4 billion acquisition of K2M Group Holdings Inc., a medical device company he founded in 2004 to address the world’s most challenging spinal pathologies. Major was K2M’s chairman, president, and CEO, helping grow the firm from an idea to a publicly traded global franchise supporting orthopedic and neurosurgical treatment of patients in more than 40 countries. From its founding to acquisition, K2M posted 14 consecutive years of uninterrupted revenue growth.
 
While leading Stryker Spine, Major worked with an M&A team to acquire sister companies Mobius Imaging and Cardan Robotics for $500 million. This strategic initiative also included the integrations of the Stryker Advance Guidance Technologies Business Unit. Before he founded K2M, Major founded and served as president and CEO of American OsteoMedix Inc., a minimally invasive spinal device company that was acquired by Interpore Cross International in 2001. After the acquisition, Major was president of the Minimally Invasive Division of Interpore Cross International.
 
Major currently serves as an advisor to VC and PE firms, as well as numerous early-stage technology ventures. He remains an active member of the medical device industry and has served on the Board of Directors of the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, as well as the AdvaMed CEO Advisory Council. “I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter alongside HIGHRIDGE and H.I.G.,” Major said. “We are committed to a culture of rapid innovation, informed by surgeons, and driven by our team. We will expand and continue to invest in our technology of solutions.”

O’Connell is an accomplished public company CEO, board member, and corporate advisor with broad expertise in medical devices, life sciences, and the global healthcare field. He is a purpose-driven, values-centered leader of large global organizations, who is passionate about cultivating innovation, developing people, and driving organic growth. O’Connell has extensive global operational, financial, strategy, and M&A experience. He was named No. 36 on Forbes 2019 list of America’s most innovative leaders.
 
“We are excited to partner with Glen, Rebecca, and HIGHRIDGE’s management team to enhance the company’s position in the market,” H.I.G. Managing Director Mike Gallagher said.
 
“H.I.G. has followed the spine market closely for many years, and we believe HIGHRIDGE is uniquely positioned to succeed in this market. We are looking forward to significant growth through operational excellence, increased investment into our R&D pipeline, and strategic acquisition opportunities,” H.I.G. Managing Director Gwen Watanabe added.
 
H.I.G.’s investment in HIGHRIDGE represents its latest transaction in the medical device sector. Other H.I.G. medical device investments include Augmedics, Vertiflex (acquired by Boston Scientific), Neuwave Medical (acquired by J&J), and Intact Vascular (acquired by Philips).
 
HIGHRIDGE is a global medical device company focused on designing and commercializing novel and proprietary products and solutions for treating spinal disorders. 
 
H.I.G. is a global alternative investment firm with $60 billion of capital under management (based on total capital raised by H.I.G. Capital and its affiliates). Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco (United States), as well as international affiliate offices in Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogotá, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Dubai, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to middle market companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/value-added approach. H.I.G.’s equity funds invest in management buyouts, recapitalizations and corporate carve-outs of both profitable as well as underperforming manufacturing and service businesses. Its debt funds invest in senior, unitranche, and junior debt financing to companies across the size spectrum, both on a primary (direct origination) basis, as well as in the secondary markets. H.I.G. also manages a publicly traded BDC, WhiteHorse Finance. Since its 1993 founding, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 400 companies worldwide. The firm’s current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales topping $53 billion.