Healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: Quote) completed Thursday the $19.7 billion acquisition of Swiss medical device maker Synthes, Inc., creating the world's leading orthopaedics business. The closure follows the Federal Trade Commission's approval received earlier in the week.
The deal will see each share of Synthes common stock being exchanged for 55.65 Swiss Francs in cash and 1.7170 shares of Johnson & Johnson common stock.
J&J noted that Synthes will now be combined with it's orthopedics business DePuy family of Companies within the medical devices and diagnostics segment of J&J. They will together bring a broader portfolio of orthopedics solutions to more people in developed as well as emerging markets.
"The combination of these two respected leaders -- Synthes and DePuy -- will enable us to better serve clinicians and patients worldwide, bring new innovations to the marketplace in orthopaedics and neurologics, and strengthen our ability to compete in developing markets," J&J CEO Alex Gorsky said in a statement.
The Federal Trade Commission or FTC, conditionally approved the deal on Monday, and the European Commission also approved the deal on April 20, 2012 after J&J agreed to remove competitive concerns regarding its trauma businesses in the European Economic Area.
Meanwhile, the FTC required of J&J to divest its system for surgically treating serious wrist fractures, known as DVR, to approve the deal.
J&J complied with the conditions placed by both the regulatory authorities by agreeing to sell its DePuy Trauma business and its wrist-fracture treatment system to Warsaw, Indiana-based orthopedics company Biomet, Inc., owned by private equity firm TPG Capital.
New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J agreed in April 2011 to acquire Synthes for 159 Swiss francs per share in cash and stock or for a total consideration of about $21.3 billion. The deal was then expected to close during the first half of 2012.
West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Synthes, which is trading on the Swiss stock exchange, is the leading producer of skeletal treatment devices in North America. It makes compounds, devices and tools to treat several kinds of bone problems.
The J&J-Synthes deal is one of the biggest health-care takeovers in recent years. In 2006, J&J bought Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) consumer health unit for $16.6 billion.
JNJ closed Wednesday's regular trading session at $64.45, up $0.21 on a volume of 137.70 million shares.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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