ICU Medical (NASDAQ:ICUI) is a step closer to acquiring Smiths Medical after clearing a shareholders vote at Smiths’ British parent company, the Smiths Group.
Almost all of the nearly 327 million Smiths Group shareholders voting on November 17 approved the $2.35 billion buy.
Run out of the Minneapolis area, Smiths Medical’s business brings in more than $1 billion a year in revenue. It includes syringe and ambulatory infusion devices, vascular access and vital care products.
ICU Medical CEO Vivek Jain said during a November 3 earnings call that the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period in the U.S. expired in late October with no second request issuance from the Federal Trade Commission. As a result, Jain predicted the deal would close as soon as practical in 2022.
ICU Medical has said that joining the two company’s complementary product portfolios will create a leading IV therapy company — and simplify customer workflow
“The combination allows us to become a broader U.S.-based manufacturer and bring our focus on vertical integration and redundancy to our collective network,” Jain said told analysts, according to a transcript from The Motley Fool.
ICU Medical made a previous $4 billion bid for Smiths Medical, with the Smiths Group announcing in late 2018 that it was spiking merger talks.
