UPDATE 2-Medtronic buying two heart valve companies
* Says to buy CoreValve for initial $700 mln
* Says bought Ventor Technologies for $325 mln
* Medtronic shares rise 1.7 pct, Edwards down 3.1 pct (Adds analyst comments, share activity, background)
CHICAGO, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc (MDT.N) said on Monday it is buying two privately held heart valve companies, including CoreValve Inc, a major player in the relatively new market for less-invasive valve replacement.
Medtronic, the world's largest stand-alone medical device maker, said it has agreed to buy Irvine, California-based CoreValve for an initial payment of $700 million plus future milestone payments.
Separately, Minneapolis-based Medtronic said it paid $325 million to acquire Israel-based Ventor Technologies Ltd, which is also developing transcatheter heart valve technologies for aortic valve disease.
CoreValve competes with Edwards Lifesciences Corp (EW.N) in the market for transcatheter valve implants, a less-invasive surgical technique for replacing a diseased aortic valve using a catheter inserted through an artery in the groin.
"From a competitive standpoint, Medtronic's entry into the transcatheter valve market certainly raises the stakes for Edwards," J.P Morgan analyst Michael Weinstein said in a note to clients.
The deals also serve to quell rumors of a Medtronic takeover of Edwards. "We never saw them as a realistic acquirer of Edwards due to the companies' significant overlap in the surgical heart valve market," Weinstein said.
Shares of Medtronic rose 59 cents, or 1.74 percent, to $34.59 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while Edwards' shares fell $1.92, or 3.14 percent, to $59.18.
The transcatheter valve implant procedure offers an alternative to traditional open heart surgery for high-risk patients, usually the elderly, who need their aortic valves replaced and would otherwise have few treatment options.
CoreValve's ReValving System was approved for sale in Europe in 2007, but is not currently available in the United States. (Reporting by Susan Kelly, editing by Maureen Bavdek, Dave Zimmerman)
