Zimmer (NYSE:ZMH) said today that it’s proposing to sell of some of its knee and elbow assets in Europe to satisfy anti-trust regulators on the European Commission about its pending, $13.35 billion acquisition of cross-town orthopedics rival Biomet.
"Zimmer has been working closely with the EC to develop a mutually-acceptable solution to address the discrete concerns identified by the EC in its preliminary assessment of the proposed acquisition of Biomet," the company said.
The assets that would be divested include a unicompartmental knee brand and an elbow brand in the European Economic Area and a total knee brand in 2 EEA countries, according to a press release.
"The EC will market-test the proposed remedy package in the coming days," the company said. "Zimmer continues to be encouraged by the substantial progress that has been made to date in connection with the overall regulatory process and expects to close the transaction in the 1st quarter of 2015.”
Last month Zimmer and the commission agreed to extend the review of the merger "by a limited number of days." Today Zimmer said the commission "stopped the clock" on its review of the deal, which would create 1 of the world’s largest orthopedics outfits.