3M (NYSE: MMM) announced today that it plans to spin off its Health Care business by the end of 2023.
The new Health Care business will be a roughly $9-billion-a-year company focusing on wound care, oral care, healthcare IT and biopharma filtration. 3M officials argue that the transaction will better position Health Care to innovate. 3M will retain a 19.9% stake in Health Care that it will monetize over time.
“Today’s actions advance our ability to create value for customers and shareholders,” 3M CEO Mike Roman said in a news release. “Disciplined portfolio management is a hallmark of our growth strategy. Our management team and board continually evaluate the strategic options that will best drive long-term sustainable growth and value. The decision to spin off our Health Care business will result in two well-capitalized, world-class companies, well positioned to pursue their respective priorities.”
3M’s decision is the latest in a string of spinoffs announced by other big conglomerates, including the GE Healthcare spinoff announced earlier this month and Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices rebranding as Johnson & Johnson MedTech earlier this year. Zimmer Biomet spun off its dental and spine business, and BD spun off its diabetes unit earlier this year. St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M intends to complete its previous separation of the Food Safety business from its Health Care business through another split-off transaction with a targeted closing date of September 1.
The newly formed 3M Health Care will have distinct boards and management teams with relevant expertise and is expected to make company-specific investment decisions to drive innovation and growth.
As part of the spinoff, 3M will retain all responsibility for non-Health Care-related litigation, including the legal proceedings related to the Combat Arms Earplugs. In a separate announcement today, the company said it is taking action to resolve the massive litigation around its Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2. Its subsidiary Aearo Technologies and related entities voluntarily initiated Chapter 11 proceedings to seek court supervision to establish a 3M-funded trust to efficiently and equitably resolve all claims determined to be entitled to compensation.
Also today, 3M reported second-quarter results today that beat the overall consensus on Wall Street.
The company posted profits of $78 million, or 14¢ per share, on sales of $8.7 billion for the three months ended June 30, for a profit decline of 94.9% on a sales slide of 2.77% compared with Q2 2021.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, 3M had earnings per share of $2.48, 3¢ ahead of The Street, where analysts predicted EPS of $2.45 and $8.58 billion in sales.
3M’s Health Care division reported $2.179 billion in sales in Q2, up slightly from Q2 2021 when it reported $2.165 billion in sales.
Shares in MMM were up 7.07% to $143.60 apiece in mid-morning trading. MassDevice’s MedTech 100 Index — which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies — was virtually unchanged.
Senior editor Danielle Kirsh contributed to this story.
