Abbott Laboratories intends to close its deal to buy medical device maker St. Jude Medical just after the new year, now that it has received permission from U.S. and international antitrust regulators scrutinizing the $25 billion acquisition.
Abbott Labs, in suburban Chicago, said Friday it intends to wrap up the deal on Jan. 4; originally, the deal was supposed to be completed by the end of 2016. Little Canada-based St. Jude needs to grow quickly to compete with much-larger competitors like Medtronic, while Abbott is trying to fill gaps in fast-growing market segments for medical devices to treat cardiovascular disease and chronic pain.
"We continue to deliberately shape our business for long-term success by securing leadership positions in attractive markets and focusing on customer needs," Abbott Chief Executive Miles White said in a news release Friday. "The addition of St. Jude Medical creates one of the broadest medical device portfolios in the world and provides a steady stream of new technologies and therapies for many years to come."
Founded in 1976, St. Jude became the largest medical-device maker headquartered in Minnesota after Medtronic moved to Ireland in 2015. Roughly 4,000 of St. Jude's 18,000 employees work in the state, including in the corporate headquarters, research and development offices and manufacturing facilities.
No announcements have been made about personnel changes after the deal closes.
Since announcing the deal in April, Abbott and St. Jude have undergone deep analysis by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and regulators in Europe, China and elsewhere to make sure that the acquisition would not result in less market competition.
St. Jude and Abbott agreed to divest several proprietary devices to Japan-based Terumo Corp. for $1.1 billion as a condition of the deal, to satisfy the regulators. St. Jude will divest its Angio-Seal and Femoseal vascular closure products to Terumo, plus Abbott's Vado steerable sheath for percutaneous procedures. Abbott will retain its own vascular closure products.
After the deal, Abbott "will compete in nearly every area of the $30 billion cardiovascular market and hold the No. 1 or 2 positions across large and high-growth cardiovascular device markets. This leading combined portfolio will have the depth, breadth, scale and innovation to help patients restore their health, improve outcomes and deliver greater value to customers and payors," Abbott said.
After the tie-up, Abbott's cardiovascular and neuromodulation device portfolio will have annual sales of about $8.7 billion.
The deal is expected to be profitable on an adjusted-earnings basis in the first full year of the deal, adding 21 cents per share in adjusted earnings in 2017 and 29 cents per share the following year. The deal is also expected to create annual pretax synergies of $500 million by 2020, including the benefits of expanded sales and "operational benefits."
Joe Carlson • 612-673-4779
