Report: Medtech M&A exits don't hinge on FDA approval
July 31, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
The funding environment for medical device startups isn’t a pretty scene, but there is a ray of sunshine through the gloom: lack of FDA approval is no longer a deal-breaker for a big exit.
In 2013 a few medtech companies managed "big exit M&A" deals (those worth $50 million or more) without having reached the FDA’s brass ring, according to a new report from Silicon Valley Bank. Read more
White House rails against Medtronic-style corporate inversions | MassDevice.com On Call
August 1, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — President Barack Obama took time in this weeks’ regular address to criticize the wave of "corporate inversions," in which companies, such as Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), are using outside-U.S. acquisitions to shift their headquarters overseas.
Inversions, a perfectly legal maneuver, allow companies to adopt an acquired target’s overseas base as the new headquarters, thus landing the buyer in a more favorable tax environment, especially for taxes earned overseas. A spate of companies have announced inversions in recent months, sparking a flurry of condemners and defenders. Read more
Smith & Nephew CEO: We've been an M&A target for 10 years
August 1, 2014 by Brad Perriello
Smith & Nephew isn’t in a big rush to jump on the mega-merger bandwagon, CEO Olivier Bohuon said today.
Despite a welter of recent blockbuster merger deals, Bohuon said the British medical device giant isn’t feeling any pressure from shareholders to seek a buyer. Read more
More mega-merger talk from medtech giants | MassDevice.com On Call
August 4, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
MASSDEVICE ON CALL — More medical device giants offered their 2¢ on high-dollar mega-mergers, joining other companies in saying that they aren’t planning any billion-dollar buys just yet.
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky said in an interview with Beaker’s Blog that he wasn’t surprised to see device makers engaging in multi-billion dollar mergers, and that J&J had taken steps years before to beat the trend. Read more
Baxter sheds vaccines biz for $635M
July 31, 2014 by Arezu Sarvestani
Baxter agreed to offload its commercial vaccines business to pharmaceutical rival Pfizer for $635 million in cash.
The deal includes Baxter’s NeisVac-C meningitis vaccine and the FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac encephalitis vaccine, both of which are already on the market outside of the U.S. Pfizer is also taking over part of an Austrian plant where the vaccines are manufactured, according to a press release. Read more
