Zimmer Finds Buyer For Three American Assets

Zimmer Holdings Inc. has reached agreements with buyers in the U.S. for three Zimmer and Biomet assets in preparation for an expected mid-June closing on the two companies’ merger, the Warsaw orthopedic maker announced.
Zimmer has divested itself of certain Zimmer® Unicompartmental High-Flex Knee System assets, Biomet Discovery® Elbow System assets and Cobalt™ bone cement assets, agreements that are in furtherance of Zimmer's pending $13.4 billion acquisition of Biomet, the announcement states. Zimmer has not named the buyer or buyers of the assets.
The company previously sold off one elbow and two knee assets in Europe as part of a “remedy package” addressing European Commission concerns that the acquisition will result in higher prices  because of reduced competition in orthopedic implants in the European Economic Area.
Zimmer said in the recent announcement it “continues to work constructively with the Bureau of Competition staff of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission” and that it “is highly confident that within the next few weeks it can finalize the agreement in principle it reached previously with FTC staff to resolve FTC staff's competitive concerns regarding the proposed acquisition.”
The divestiture agreements are subject to further review by the FTC and acceptance of a consent order by the commissioners of the FTC, and the closing of these transactions is also subject to other customary conditions. Both the European Commission and the Japan Fair Trade Commission previously cleared Zimmer's proposed acquisition of Biomet.  
Zimmer also plans to close its Carlsbad, Calif., dental headquarters about one year after the acquisition, according to fiercemedicaldevices.com, citing internal emails it obtained that were sent to Zimmer and Biomet employees. The closure will result in an unspecified number of layoffs. 
The new combined company's dental headquarters will be consolidated into Biomet's dental headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., according to the publication. Distribution operations will move to Palm Beach Gardens and manufacturing will be transferred to other company sites and outside suppliers.

(Story By The Times Union)