Abbott Laboratories released no new details Wednesday about integration timelines and personnel changes in Minnesota as it completed its long-planned acquisition of Little Canada-based medical device company St. Jude Medical.
Abbott Labs closes its acquisition of St. Jude Medical
Focus turns on integration teams from both companies that continue to work on the transition.
January 5, 2017 at 1:36AM
The cash-and-stock acquisition of St. Jude was valued at $25 billion, plus assumption of more than $5 billion in debt, when it was announced in April. Since then the value of Abbott's stock has fallen, meaning St. Jude investors will get roughly $81 per share based on Wednesday's closing price, down from $85 per share originally projected.
The acquisition combines a health care conglomerate with $20 billion in annual revenue with one of Minnesota's most innovative high-tech medical-device companies. St. Jude, which has $5.5 billion in revenue, is known for inventing or acquiring cutting-edge products to treat cardiovascular disease, chronic pain and other fast-growing maladies.
Founded in Minnesota in 1976, St. Jude Medical was a Fortune 500 company with about 4,000 Minnesota employees and 18,000 overall. It now becomes a part of Abbott's growth-focused medical device division.
Neither company released a timeline for how quickly St. Jude's operations will be integrated into Abbott.
"Abbott has a strong track record of successfully integrating dozens of businesses on a global scale and accelerating growth," Abbott chief executive Miles White said in a news release Wednesday. "The addition of St. Jude Medical strengthens our global medical device leadership while offering innovative products to address more areas of care, in more physicians' offices and hospitals around the world."
Abbott has been tight-lipped about potential personnel changes that could be coming to employees in Minnesota, other than in the executive ranks.
St. Jude CEO Michael Rousseau is slated to become president of Abbott's cardiovascular and neuromodulation division, according to a securities filing. A host of other executives signed retention agreements with Abbott, including Chief Medical Officer Dr. Mark Carlson, Chief Technology Officer Phil Ebeling, and Group President Dr. Eric Fain.
"St. Jude has a strong management team and we are pleased to have many leading the business moving forward," spokeswoman Elissa Maurer said via e-mail Wednesday. "We continue to have integration teams from both companies working through plans to combine our businesses and ensure a smooth transition. We don't have further details at this time."
The acquisition pays St. Jude investors $46.75 in cash and 0.87 shares of Abbott common stock for each share of St. Jude they own. Abbott closed at $39.36 per share on Wednesday.
The deal was contingent on St. Jude and Abbott divesting two vascular closure products and a steerable sheath for percutaneous procedures to Japan-based Terumo Corp. for $1.1 billion.
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