J&J’s Synthes deal purportedly benefited chairman (Bloomberg News)
Johnson & Johnson’s $21.3 billion buyout of Synthes Inc. shortchanged the medical-device maker’s investors while improperly benefiting its chairman, a lawyer argued in court.
Synthes Chairman Hansjoerg Wyss, the company’s controlling shareholder, engineered the J&J buyout to meet his retirement needs rather than to get the highest price for the maker of devices to treat trauma victims, Andrew Abramowitz, an attorney for two pension funds suing over the deal, told Delaware Chancery Court Judge Leo Strine on Friday.
Wyss "put his unique concerns ahead of the interests of other shareholders," Abramowitz said at a hearing in Wilmington.
J&J, the world’s second-biggest seller of health-care products, said June 12 that it entered into accelerated buyback agreements for about $12.9 billion in shares with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to help pay for the cash-and-stock acquisition of Synthes. U.S. antitrust regulators gave clearance for the deal earlier this month.
Synthes shareholders are to receive about 55.65 Swiss francs ($58.66) and about 1.72 J&J shares for each share they o...
