A pioneer hair transplant doctor has sold his firm, Bosley Medical of Beverly Hills, to a major Japanese wig maker.

Aderans Co. Ltd. of Tokyo paid Dr. L. Lee Bosley $45 million in cash for his company, which has performed more than 140,000 hair transplants on celebrities and others since 1974, according to George Fettig, Bosley’s vice president of marketing.

The company, whose 42 offices in the U.S. and Canada generate annual revenues of $55 million, will remain intact with Bosley continuing to perform hair transplant surgeries and training new physicians. No layoffs are planned, company officials said.

“It’s really about the best strategic fit possible for Bosley,” said Robert Campbell, managing director of investment banking for Irvine-based LH Friend, Weinress, Frankson & Presson, which served as a financial adviser for the seller. “It’s the best way for the company to expand globally and offer a comprehensive set of solutions to hair loss. The Bosley brand name has a lot of name recognition in the industry and it will continue.”

Aderans, Japan’s only publicly-traded wig maker, also has hair care manufacturing and distribution operations in Van Nuys, as well as Florida and Minnesota. The company generated $634 million in revenues for the year ended Feb. 28, and projects fiscal year 2002 revenues to reach $655 million, without Bosley’s share, Fettig said.

Aderans’ stock closed on the Tokyo exchange Aug. 15 at 4,430 yen ($37.05), up from 4,400 yen ($36.80) on July 25, the day before the deal was announced in Japan.

When Bosley began his business in 1974, hair loss was rectified using the “punch graft” method of transplanting clumps of hair in rows that resembled the facsimile mane on a doll’s head.

Through the years, Bosley claims to have perfected transplants by removing thin, four-inch-long strips of scalp from the “donor area” in the back of the patient’s head and inserting only two or three hair follicles in each tiny incision made in the balding area.

The average Bosley transplant, generally requiring two sessions under local anesthetic, costs $12,000, said Fettig.

“Even though it takes more time to do this, the result is as close to natural as human beings can make it,” said Fettig.

Aderans projected annual revenues to jump to $655 million from $634 million for the fiscal year that ended Feb. 28.