Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW) announced that its chief financial officer, Thomas Abate, plans to retire later this year. Abate, who turns 60 in August, plans to remain chief financial officer until his successor is in place. The company said it has retained Peter Crist of Crist/Kolder Associates to assist in the chief financial officer search.
Abate became Edwards' CFO in January 2006. Before that, he was the company's vice president and controller, a position he had held since Edwards became an independent company. In the 18 years prior, Abate was with Baxter in other finance-related positions.
In a separate press release, Edwards Lifesciences announced that its board has authorized a new share repurchase program to acquire up to an additional $750 million of the company's outstanding common shares.
As of March 31, 2013, Edwards had approximately $140 million remaining of its current $500 million share repurchase program, which was authorized in September 2011.
Edwards said it expects to utilize the remainder of the $500 million repurchase authorization during the second quarter of 2013.
The company also announced that Michael Mussallem, Edwards' chairman and CEO, will make a $5 million cash purchase of newly issued shares of Edwards common stock.
Under a subscription agreement approved yesterday by the Board of Directors, Mussallem will purchase the shares on May 15 at either the share price that is equal to the closing price on that day, or at a share price that equals the average closing price for the 10 trading days ending on May 13, whichever is higher. The common stock purchased in this transaction will be issued under a private placement. Not including this purchase, Mussallem today holds 322,952 Edwards shares outright.
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