Healthcare giant Covidien (NYSE:COV) issued updates on its long-awaited split into separate medical device and drug units and incorporated the Mallinckrodt pharmaceutical division as an independent entity in Ireland.
Covidien has not yet issued a date for completion of the split or distribution of Mallinckrodt shares to current Covidien shareholders, but has said it expects to finalize the spinout by "mid-2013," according to the Mallinckrodt website.
Mallinckrodt has been around since 1867 as G. Mallinckrodt & Co. and grew as a leader in pain management medications. The company was a $2 billion concern when it was acquired in 2000 by Covidien forebear Tyco International (NYSE:TYC).
Tyco spun out its healthcare products division in 2007 to form Tyco Healthcare, which was later renamed Covidien and in December 2011 Covidien announced plans to spin off Mallinckrodt as a standalone public entity.
Mallinckrodt today filed its initial SEC registration statement, which Covidien chairman, president & CEO Jose Almeida called "an important milestone" in the spinout process.
"As 2 distinct businesses, Covidien and Mallinckrodt will be better positioned to capitalize on significant growth opportunities and provide greater focus on their respective businesses and strategic priorities," Almeida said in prepared remarks. "As independent, publicly owned companies, Covidien and Mallinckrodt each will be able to pursue and focus on its own strategic and operational plans, including setting an optimal level of investment in research and development projects and in the operation and expansion of its businesses and creating a business-appropriate capital structure."
Other medical device makers have made splits, including healthcare titan Abbott (NYSE:ABT) which on Jan. 1, 2013, spun out its research pharmaceuticals division into a publicly traded firm dubbed AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV).
In January 2012 British orthopedics giant Smith & Nephew (FTSE:SN, NYSE:SNN) shuffled its business deck with the spinout of its biologics and clinical therapies division in a joint venture with venture capital firm Essex Woodlands.
