Say hello to MassDevice +3, a bite-sized view of the top three medtech stories of the day. This feature of MassDevice.com’s coverage highlights our 3 biggest and most influential stories from the day’s news to make sure you’re up to date on the headlines that continue to shape the medical device industry.
3. Philips to carve out lighting biz, merger healthcare & consumer units
Royal Philips said today that it plans to spin out its legacy lighting solutions business to focus on its $19.3 billion health and consumer products business.
Philips did not reveal the impact of the split, expected to cost about $64.3 million from 2014 to 2016, on its 113,000 employees. At last report, Philips Healthcare, which runs its U.S. operation out of Andover, Mass., employed about 37,150 people worldwide, down slightly from a year earlier, with restructuring over the past year offset to some degree by the addition of new employees in growth markets. Read more
2. Medtronic, Covidien slide on new U.S. inversion rules
The U.S. Treasury Dept. yesterday moved to stop so-called “inversion” deals like the pending $43 billion merger of Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Covidien (NYSE:COV), in which a U.S. company buys a foreign firm and shifts its incorporation overseas to gain tax-free access to foreign cash.
“These first, targeted steps make substantial progress in constraining the creative techniques used to avoid U.S. taxes, both in terms of meaningfully reducing the economic benefits of inversions after the fact, and when possible, stopping them altogether,” Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said in prepared remarks. “While comprehensive business tax reform that includes specific anti-inversion provisions is the best way to address the recent surge of inversions, we cannot wait to address this problem. Treasury will continue to review a broad range of authorities for further anti-inversion measures as part of our continued work to close loopholes that allow some taxpayers to avoid paying their fair share.” Read more
1. Alere unveils $3.82B privatization plan
Diagnostics giant Alere has seen some major Wall Street action since news broke that former CEO Ron Zwanziger is looking to take the company private in a deal valued at $3.82 billion.
The offer has gotten the attention of shareholders as well as of former SEC attorney Willie Briscoe and the securities litigation firm of Powers Taylor, LLP. Read more