Zimmer Biomet is to buy Medtech
"Zimmer
Biomet ($ZBH) flexed some of its cash-on-hand muscle and has entered
into the growing surgical robotics arena with the purchase of France’s
Medtech for an estimated $132 million.
According to an SEC filing, Zimmer Biomet agreed to buy a little more
than 1.4 million shares of the 58.7% of the outstanding share capital
of the French medical robotics company at a price of €50.00 ($55) per
share, with convertible bonds priced at €50.03 ($55.60) each and the
warrants at a price of €17.17 ($18.90) each.
The company also said it will make an all-cash tender offer for the Medtech shares it doesn’t already own at the price of $55 per share.
That offer will be subject to the approval of France’s anti-trust
regulatory agency.
Wall Street analysts have estimated the orthopedic giant’s pockets to
be as deep as $5 billion in cash it can use in the next few years
following its $13.4 billion acquisition of Biomet just a little over a
year ago.
The deal for Medtech is seen as Zimmer’s entry into the surgical
robotics field that includes players such as Intuitive Surgical ($ISRG)
and Stryker ($SYK). Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) and Alphabet ($GOOG)
have partnered to create new robotic-assisted surgical platforms as
well, and the U.K.’s Cambridge Medical Robotics just announced $20.3
million in Series A funding it plans to use to develop its robotic
surgical technology.
Medtech's product portfolio includes two robots for minimally
invasive brain and spine procedures dubbed the ROSA Brain and the ROSA
Spine. The ROSA Brain received FDA approval in 2009 and the ROSA Spine a
CE mark in 2014.
"We expect Zimmer Biomet's industry-leading position to enable
Medtech's innovative minimally invasive surgical robots to reach a much
greater number of patients suffering from neurological and spine
disorders globally,” Frank Yu, chief executive of the investment company
Ally Bridge Group, said in a statement.
Ally sold its entire stake in Medtech as part of the deal.
Additionally, Yu, Fernand Badano and Eric Briole have resigned from
Medtech’s board of directors.
In early June, Zimmer shelled out about $1 billion to buy spinal
surgery player LDR Holding and its Mobi-C CDR, which is the first and
only device FDA-approved to treat both one- and two-level adjacent
damaged cervical discs.
- here’s the SEC filing- check out Ally’s announcement
- for more, head to FierceMedicalDevices"
Source: Medtech, Fierce Biotech
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