3M reveals the name of its health care business to be spun off next year

3M's health care spinoff will be known as Solventum, the company announced Thursday.

The Maplewood-based manufacturer intends to complete the separation of the $8.4 billion business in the first half of 2024 after initially aiming for the end of this year.

"We have appointed the leadership team in there, and the teams are making very good progress in driving to the spin date," 3M President and Chief Financial Officer Monish Patolawala said earlier this month at an investor conference.

In August, 3M hired Bryan Hanson, the head of Zimmer Biomet, as CEO of the health care group. Carrie Cox will be executive chair, and former Insulet executive Wayde McMillan will be chief financial officer, the company announced last month.

Solventum will remain headquartered in Minnesota for at least a "transitional" period after the separation. The spinoff was first announced in July 2022.

"This is another significant milestone on the path to building two-world class companies, 3M and Solventum," 3M CEO Mike Roman said in a statement.

The Solventum name is meant as a combination of the words "solving" and "momentum."

"It started with employees — we did a lot of listening sessions where they identified themselves as problem solvers," Danette Andley, chief marketing officer for 3M health care, said in an interview. "With customers, this name tested higher than any other."

The brand also passed muster with 27 language experts, Andley said, who found it was easily pronounceable.

More than 20,000 employees will work at Solventum, which will be spun off next year via an initial public offering of its stock. Until then, it will still operate as 3M health care.

"Even bigger than the name, we've started to introduce our identity," Andley said, adding that green in the logo makes it stand out in a health care industry dominated by red, blue and orange.

Solventum will continue to focus on areas like wound care, health care IT, oral care, filtration and purification. CEO Hanson said he intends to "build a leading independent medical technology innovation company."

Health care spinoffs have become an industry trend in 2023. The largest of those deals was Johnson & Johnson's spinoff of its consumer health care division into Kenvue, a new public company.

Medtronic announced plans in October 2022 to spin off its patient monitoring and respiratory interventions businesses into a new standalone company. On Thursday morning, a Medtronic spokeswoman said that there is no current update to those plans.

3M's health care business represents a quarter of the company's total revenue. The maker of Post-it notes and N95 respirators is looking to grow again after years of expensive litigation, declining market value and layoffs.