Dallas, Texas 09/02/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Zimmer Holdings, Inc.(NYSE:ZMH) one the largest orthopaedic use devices and accessory makers in the US with a wide global market, will now wait for approval from EU regulatory body until Oct 3, 2014.
The European antitrust body will debate over the takeover of Biomet Inc, and mark its approval by the same date.
Zimmer Holdings, Inc.(NYSE:ZMH) had applied to the EU regulatory body, which over seas the competition of businesses in June. However, the antitrust body had halted the review as it found the application by Zimmer Holdings incomplete for a substantial evaluation.
Zimmer Holdings has proposed to buy Biomet Inc. at a cost of $13.4 billion.
If the sale were to be approved it will then move Zimmer Holdings to the second most largest orthopaedic player in the US, just after Johnson and Johnson.
The main focus for Zimmer Holdings, through the acquisition of Biomet Inc, is the expansion into a more lucrative sports medicine sector. Biomet Inc’s established presence in this field will lend itself to Zimmer Holdings already mature portfolio, allowing the company to expand and have more lucrative product line-up by the next quarter.
Zimmre’s has in the recent weeks, before this announcement, has been hitting some bad financial patches as the revenues, especially for its surgical segment as well as the Spine and Dental segments have showed marked downturn.
Therefore, it becomes increasingly important for a company like Zimmer Holdings, Inc.(NYSE:ZMH) to establish and gain a firmer foothold in frontier market segments, given the oversaturation of some of the segments it currently covers.
Peers in the medical product segment include ICU Medical, Abaxis Inc as well as AtriCure IJnc, which are rated higher by analysts on a purely investor-point of view.