Leadership at Zimmer (NYSE:ZMH) and Biomet have been on merger overdrive in recent weeks, holding summits and hosting presentations as the companies navigate the tricky business of a $13 billion merger.
The orthopedics makers recently hosted the 2nd in a series of Integration Summits taking place monthly, where teams comprised of members from each company look for growth opportunities, hash out tax and regulatory issues and strategize on how best to bring these industry titans together.
Integration managers and company executives have also been on tour, hosting regular in-person and webcast Town Hall meetings and running the conference circuit to keep employees, shareholders and analysts apprised of the progress made since the merger was announced in April. Several of Biomet’s and Zimmer’s facilities around the world will also host integration planning team members over the next few months as company leadership seeks to get an "impression" of each site and its production capabilities.
There are 28 total planning teams taking charge of various aspects of the merger, which will bond Biomet and Zimmer to form the 2nd largest pure-play orthopedic company in the world. The companies are expected to have a combined revenue of nearly $8 billion.
The integration teams are working double-time to "determine the priorities for the first day of the new company," but their talks are hampered by confidentiality restrictions on each side.
"There are limits to what can be accomplished and decided before closing," according to the latest summit update. "The integration planning teams must complete their tasks while working within the context of a strict legal framework. Because Zimmer and Biomet are competitors, neither company can reveal any information that would be considered inappropriate to share with a competitor."
That means there will be a lot of work still to do once the companies finally tie a ribbon on this deal.
Overall, Biomet and Zimmer reported that everything is on track with their mega-merger and they’re still looking for the deal to close in the 1st quarter of 2015.