Stryker And St. Jude Acquisitions Signal Year-end Uptick In Device M&A

The merger and acquisition market for medtech companies had already slowly started to climb off the mat after last year's collapse when Stryker Corp. and St. Jude Medical Inc. closed on two $1 billion-plus acquisitions. Still, Stryker's $1.4 billion bid to acquire the neurovascular business of Boston Scientific Corp. and St. Jude's $1.3 billion offer for structural heart disease company AGA Medical Holdings Inc. demonstrate how deep strategic acquirers are willing to dig to establish themselves in new markets. [See Deal][See Deal] In acquiring AGA, St. Jude agreed to pay $20.80 per share, a 41% premium to the pre-announcement share price.

The combined price tag of $2.7 billion guaranteed that 2010 will be a better year for medical device mergers and acquisitions than 2009, at least as measured by disclosed prices paid. An analysis of data in Elsevier's Strategic Transactions recorded $11.7 billion paid out for medical device acquisitions last year versus $13.2 billion through the end of October this year. That dollar total came in on 73 deals this year versus 98 in all 2009, so acquirers are paying more per deal. (In both years roughly one-third of the total deals didn't make the terms public.) Michael J