Under the revised deal announced yesterday, Boston Scientific will pay Mr. Mann and other former Advanced Bionics shareholders $1.15 billion to buy the division that makes pain management devices, for $650 million at closing and $500 million in March 2009. The devices include the Precision Plus spinal cord stimulators and a microstimulator being developed under the Bion name that may have a broad range of pain control applications.  Boston Scientific will sell back to an Advanced Bionics investment group the implantable hearing aid and drug pump businesses for $150 million. Mr. Greiner, who is head of Boston Scientific’s Neuromodulation Group, will resign to run the reconstituted Advanced Bionics, which will continue to be based in Valencia, Calif. Michael Onuscheck, who oversees the pain management implants, will become head of the neuromodulation operations.  “We look forward to building on our proud record of achievement in hearing health and to further developing the implantable drug pump technology,” Mr. Greiner said in the statement released by Boston Scientific.  The new arrangements will save Boston Scientific $500 million in payments that would have been due in 2008 and 2009 and a potential $2.1 billion that might have come due in future years, according to Paul Donovan, a spokesman for Boston Scientific.  Mr. Donovan said the pain management business was on track to bring in $200 million in revenue this year and to generate profits. He said the company thought that sales would climb to $250 million in 2008 with increasing profits.  “We also think there is synergy between the microelectronics in this business and our C.R.M. business,” said Mr. Donovan, referring to implantable cardiac rhythm management devices like defibrillators and pacemakers.  The new deal addresses pressing needs for Boston Scientific, which faces heavy debts from its $27 billion acquisition of Guidant last year and unexpectedly weak sales in defibrillators and coronary stents, its two largest businesses. It reduces a potential drain on cash at a time when investors have become increasingly worried about how the company will pay off the Guidant debt.  Those concerns were spotlighted last week when Boston Scientific decided not to pursue a public offering of a minority stake in its endosurgery operations, which develop devices to treat digestive, urological and gynecological disorders. That deal might have brought in up to $1 billion to reduce the debt. The company’s stock fell to five-year lows, and credit agencies cut their ratings on its bonds.  Boston Scientific’s shares rose 56 cents to close at $13.76 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange in trading that ended before the announcement. But they fell as low as $13.20 in after-hours trading before rebounding.  “At the margin, it’s a net positive for Boston Scientific,” said Lawrence Keusch, who follows the industry for Goldman Sachs. “They keep the best components, and they are getting rid of long-term overhangs.”  Investors’ initial negative reaction may have reflected in part Boston Scientific’s forecast that the deal would require an after-tax charge against earnings of $360 million.  A version of this article appears in print on , on Page C3 of the New York edition with the headline: To Curb Risk, Boston Scientific to Sell Device Maker It Bought in ’04. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
The medical equipment maker said it will sell Advanced Bionics to avoid future payouts that could have amounted to $2.6 billion over the next six years.