Biomet Makes a Public Bid to Acquire Depuy Trauma Business For $280M Cash
J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics OKs Biomet bid for trauma business (press release)
Johnson & Johnson’s DePuy Orthopaedics division agrees to a $280 million offer for its global trauma business from Biomet in order to appease EuroZone regulators about J&J’s $21.3 billion acquisition of Synthes.
Johnson & Johnson subsidiary DePuy Orthopedics accepted a $280 million cash offer for its global trauma business from Biomet Inc., part of concessions the healthcare conglomerate made to assuage EuroZone regulators about its $21.3 billion deal for Swiss ortho giant Synthes.
DePuy accepted the offer after a round of “consultation obligations with various European works councils,” according to a regulatory filing by Warsaw, Ind.-based Biomet.
That company hopes to expand its sports, extremities and trauma division with the acquisition, which will see DePuy’s trauma employees folded into the Biomet team. A Biomet spokesman declined to disclose additional terms of the deal when it was announced April 3, but told MassDevice.com that the company intends “to invest in and grow our combined trauma business well ahead of the market.”
“The DePuy Trauma team has done a great job of building a successful business,” Biomet president & CEO Jeffrey Binder said at the time. “We look forward to welcoming them as Biomet team members and working alongside them to fulfill our commitment to providing customers with outstanding products and service, as well as continued innovation.”
The DePuy trauma deal comes amid J&J’s $21.3 billion buyout of Synthes, a move that raised eyebrows among regulators at the European Commission, which regulates competition and antitrust efforts for the European Union. J&J submitted concessions the European authorities in February, hoping to grease the wheels.
EuroZone regulators then delayed the deadline for a decision on the proposed merger until April 26, but were sufficiently mollified by the divestment of DePuy’s trauma ops to OK the deal before then.
“We obtained remedies to ensure that competition will remain strong in these markets, for the ultimate benefit of patients and social security systems,” EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said at the time.