After 3M split, Minnesota has a new public company in Solventum

Nearly two years after 3M announced plans to spin off its health care business, the new Solventum Corp. officially launched Monday and started trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The spinoff will likely become Minnesota’s latest Fortune 500 company — the state had 15 on 2023′s list — once it qualifies for the annual rankings in 2025. For now, at least: The company hasn’t committed to a long-term headquarters location yet but will be in Minnesota for the first year or so at 3M’s corporate HQ in Maplewood.

3M retained 19.9% of the shares in Solventum, whose stock closed down 0.7% on Monday. S&P Dow Jones Indices also added Solventum to its S&P 500 index on Monday.

Solventum has 22,000 employees with 1,180 currently in the east metro. In August, 3M named Bryan Hanson as the CEO of the new company ahead of unveiling the name Solventum in November. Hanson was CEO of Indiana-based Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc., a med-tech company of comparable scale.

Hanson, whom Solventum did not make available for comment, and other company leaders will ring the opening bell on Wall Street on Wednesday.

“Solventum has a profound legacy within Medical Alley, committed to improving lives all over the world. We are eager to support their continued growth and impact, further cementing this region as the epicenter of health innovation and care,” said Roberta Dressen, CEO of Medical Alley — a global network of health care organizations — in a statement.

Before the spinoff, 3M’s health care sales were declining. Its 2023 sales of $8.2 billion were 2.8% lower than the prior year.

A March SEC filing aimed at investors projected Solventum would have flat financial results for the year ahead with estimated organic sales growth in the range of -1.5% to 1.5%. Solventum’s MedSurg division — which makes everything from stethoscopes to devices used during operations that help with wound care, IV management, patient-monitoring and more — accounted for 56% of its sales last year.

Solventum also makes dental products, health information systems and purification-filtration products.

3M previously sold off its drug delivery business to a private equity firm for $650 million in 2020. That operation became Kindeva Drug Delivery, which merged in 2022 with St. Louis-based Meridian Medical Technologies.