EU Approves Acquisition Of St Jude Medical By Abbott Labs

(RTTNews) - The European Commission said it approved the proposed acquisition of St Jude Medical by Abbott Laboratories (ABT), both US based companies that develop and market medical devices. The approval is conditional on Abbott divesting two devices used in cardiovascular treatments.

In order to address the competition concerns identified by the Commission, Abbott offered to fully divest St Jude's global vessel closure devices business, including its manufacturing site in Puerto Rico; divest the whole of Abbott's Vado business, including its shareholding in Kalila Medical, the company which developed Vado. Kalila Medical was purchased by Abbott in early 2016 but was not subsequently integrated into Abbott operations.

These commitments fully remove the overlap between Abbott and St Jude in the two markets where the Commission had identified competition concerns. The Commission was therefore able to conclude that the proposed transaction, as modified by the commitments, would no longer raise competition concerns. The decision is conditional upon full compliance with the commitments, the Commission said.

In April 2016, Abbott agreed to acquire St. Jude Medical. Under the agreement, St. Jude Medical shareholders would receive $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 shares of Abbott common stock, representing total consideration of approximately $85 per share. It represented a total transaction equity value of $25 billion.