Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) said today that it agreed to acquire the U.S. unicompartmental High Flex knee assets from Zimmer (NYSE:ZMH), which is looking to mollify U.S. anti-trust regulators ahead of its $13.34 billion merger with Biomet.
Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer last month said it had found buyers for the High Flex knee and Biomet’s Discovery elbow device and Biomet’s Cobalt bone cement assets in the U.S., anticipating the deal to close by the middle of this month.
The deal with Smith & Nephew is slated to close 3 days after the Zimmer-Biomet union is consummated, the British orthopedics giant said today. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Our acquisition of this product line expands our access to a fast growing segment of the joint reconstruction market,” Smith & Nephew global orthopedic president Brad Cannon said in prepared remarks. “We look forward to welcoming many new customers to Smith & Nephew and are excited by this opportunity to demonstrate first-hand our excellent customer service and broad range of advanced surgical products.”
In April Zimmer agreed to sell the High Flex and Discovery assets in the European Economic Area and Switzerland and Biomet’s Vanguard complete knee system in Denmark and Sweden to Lima Corporate SpA. European anti-trust regulators OKed the deal in late March.
