In a medical technology merger with implications for the healthcare sector in the United States and beyond, Becton Dickinson is acquiring C.R. Bard for $24 billion to tap into the growing markets for products used in treating vascular conditions and cancer.
Under the deal announced Sunday, Franklin Lakes, NJ-based Becton Dickinson (NYSE: [[ticker:BD]]) will pay Bard (NYSE: [[ticker:BCR]]) shareholders approximately $222.93 in cash and 0.5077 shares of BD stock per Bard share. That represents $317 for each Bard share, a 25.2 percent premium over Bard’s closing stock price Friday. When the deal closes, shareholders of Murray Hill, NJ-based Bard will own approximately 15 percent of the combined company.
BD’s $12.4 billion in revenue last year was split between its Medical Segment, which makes diabetes care products and devices used by clinicians to manage and administer medication, and its Life Sciences Segment that sells products for collecting and transporting diagnostic specimens. The company says that Bard will help it expand beyond diabetes into areas such as peripheral vascular disease, urology, hernia, and cancer.
Bard operates four business units: oncology, vascular, urology, and surgical specialties. Vascular products made up more than $1 billion of the company’s $3.7 billion in 2016 revenue, edging out oncology as the company’s largest business unit. BD says that bringing Bard’s vascular products, such as catheters and ports, together with its devices that prepare, dispense, and administer drugs will help the combined entity address a wider range of medication management needs. BD, which conducts its research and development work in Research Triangle Park, NC, also says that the two companies together can offer a more comprehensive lineup of products addressing surgical site infections and catheter-related blood stream infections.
Both companies generate most of their revenue from U.S. customers, but BD notes that Bard’s head start in international markets, with about 500 products already registered for sale overseas, was attractive.
“The combined company will have a large and growing presence in emerging markets, including $1 billion in annual revenue in China,” BD said in a prepared statement.
The medical device sector has experienced a flurry of activity in recent years. In 2015, Medtronic (NYSE: [[ticker:MDT]]) closed on its acquisition of Mansfield, MA-based Covidien for $49.9 billion in cash and stock. Later that year medical device giant Zimmer acquired its Warsaw, IN, neighbor Biomet in a $13.35 billion cash and stock deal that formed Zimmer Biomet (NYSE: [[ticker:ZBH]]).
BD’s Bard deal comes two years after it closed its $12.2 billion acquisition of San Diego-based CareFusion. CareFusion brought to BD its lineup of devices used for administering and managing medication, which were integrated into the New Jersey company’s medical division. With the Bard acquisition, BD plans to create a third business unit called BD Interventional. BD says that Tom Polen, who is executive vice president of the BD Medical Segment, will become president of BD, effective immediately. In his new role, Polen will oversee all three of BD’s business segments.
The boards of directors of both BD and Bard have approved the deal. The companies expect the acquisition to close in the fall of this year.
Photo by Flickr user Tareq Salahuddin via a Creative Commons license.
