TWO WASHINGTON COMPANIES SOLD TO FOREIGN BUYERS

A food company and a medical devices company are the latest local companies to be sold to foreign buyers. SK Food Group, a Seattle company that manufactures breakfast sandwiches and wraps, many of which are supplied to Starbucks, was sold today to Premium Brands Holding Corp. of Vancouver, Canada, for $42.5 million.

Also announced today was an agreement by Cardiac Science Corp., a Bothell-based manufacturer of cardiology devices and systems, to be acquired by Opto Circuits of Bangalore, India for $55 million. Cardiac Science Corp has 514 employees globally, of whom 162 are in the Seattle metro region.

It’s unclear whether local jobs will be lost as a result of either transaction. Christian Schiller, managing director at Cascadia Capital, which represented SK Food Group in the transaction, says SK Food Group represents an extension of an existing product segment for Premium Brands. Since Premium will be able to sell SK Food products through more outlets, the merger could actually result in increased local employment.

Cardiac Sciences becomes part of a $243 million a year empire with operations in the US, Europe and Southeast Asia. But the company declined to say whether there would be any layoffs as a result of the proposed merger.

Increased deal flow often occurs at the beginning of a recovery as companies look for new sources of growth. “Companies have built up huge cash piles because of liquidity concerns,” says Cascadia’s Schiller. Now that companies feel more confident about the future, Schiller says, they feel compelled to use the cash to generate new growth. That new confidence among business leaders, he says, could be a harbinger of broader economic growth.