MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AGA Medical Holdings, Inc. (AGA Medical) (NASDAQ:AGAM - News) today announced that Jack P. Helms was elected as an independent member to its board of directors upon completion of AGA Medical’s initial public offering. Helms’ position expands the board to eight.

“Jack brings extensive knowledge of financial and capital markets, as well as experience in several industries, including health care, consumer and manufacturing,” said Tommy Thompson, chairman of the board of AGA Medical. “His insights will be valuable as AGA Medical grows as a public company, and we look forward to working with him.”

Helms has more than 20 years of experience in corporate finance. Currently, he serves as chairman of Lazard Middle Market LLC (formerly Goldsmith Agio Helms), a premier middle-market investment bank. During his career, he has initiated and completed a wide range of mergers, acquisitions, sales, divestitures, financings and recapitalizations, including complex cross-border sales and international joint ventures, and multifaceted sales of small-cap public companies. Previously, Helms was a partner in an international law firm practicing in the area of mergers and acquisitions, limited partnerships, and tax and corporate law, and worked in corporate finance with a Fortune 100 company. Helms also served as an independent director of Applebee's International, Inc. from 1993 to 2007, when the company was sold. He served as co-chair of the special committee that managed the sale process.

Helms is a member of the Association for Corporate Growth national board of directors and chair of the ACG InterGrowth 2011 conference. Investment Dealers’ Digest named him 2007 Middle-Market Banker of the Year. Helms is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, and a member of the Minnesota bar. He received his bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University, and is a certified public accountant and a member of the Minnesota Society of CPAs.

About AGA Medical

AGA Medical, based in Plymouth, Minnesota, is a leading innovator and manufacturer of medical devices for the treatment of structural heart defects and vascular diseases. AGA Medical’s AMPLATZER occlusion devices offer minimally invasive, transcatheter treatments that have been clinically shown to be highly effective in defect closure. The Company’s devices and delivery systems use relatively small catheters and can be retrieved and repositioned prior to release from the delivery cable, enabling optimal placement without the need to repeat the procedure or use multiple devices. AGA Medical is the only manufacturer with occlusion devices approved to close seven different structural heart defects, with leading market positions for each of its devices. More than 1,500 articles supporting the benefits of AMPLATZER products have been published in medical literature. AGA Medical markets AMPLATZER products in 112 countries worldwide. In addition to its presence with cardiologists, AGA Medical has also leveraged its core competencies in nitinol braiding and transcatheter delivery systems to develop products for the treatment of certain vascular diseases, which are sold primarily to interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release and any attachments may include “forward-looking statements,” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, including, in particular, earnings guidance and any statements about the Company’s plans, strategies and prospects. These statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company. These statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events, are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things: failure to implement the Company’s business strategy; failure to capitalize on the Company’s expected market opportunities; lack of regulatory approval and market acceptance of the Company’s new products, product enhancements or new applications for existing products; regulatory developments in key markets for the Company’s AMPLATZER occlusion devices; failure to complete the Company’s clinical trials or failure to achieve the desired results in our clinical trials; inability to successfully commercialize the Company’s existing and future research and development programs; failure to protect the Company’s intellectual property; intellectual property claims exposure, related litigation expense, and any resultant damages, awarded royalties or other remedies, in particular resulting from our Medtronic and Occlutech litigations; competition; decreased demand for the Company’s products; product liability claims exposure; failure to otherwise comply with laws and regulations; changes in general economic and business conditions; changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates; and other risks and uncertainties, including those detailed in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 relating to its initial public offering, as well as from time to time in the Company’s periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. You should understand that many important factors, including those discussed herein, could cause the Company’s results to differ materially from those expressed or suggested in any forward-looking statement. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this news release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or otherwise. Readers are advised to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (which are available from the SEC's EDGAR database at www.sec.gov, at various SEC reference facilities in the United States and via the Company's website at www.amplatzer.com).

For more information, visit www.amplatzer.com.

Padilla Speer Beardsley
Nick Banovetz, 612-455-1705
nbanovetz@psbpr.com