Synthes Acquires AO Foundation's Assets; Collaboration Agreement Still in Discussion
BY ARIELLA P. GOLOMB, MD, AUGUST 29, 2006
Back in March, Synthes and the Association for Osteosynthesis (AO) Foundation announced that Synthes would acquire trade names and marks and substantially all of the intellectual property from the AO Foundation for approximately CHF 1.0 billion in cash and stock. Synthes announced today that the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) gave clearance last week to complete the asset purchase agreement. The transaction closed yesterday, in line with Management's Q3:06 predictions.
However, a separate ongoing collaboration agreement was also announced this past March between the two companies and has not yet been cleared. Under this agreement AO would continue to provide surgeon education, ongoing R&D and technical service activities. Included in today's annoucement was language surrounding a "concern" the FCO has related to the separate collaboration agreement between the two companies. Synthes states that yesterday's clearance does not satsify this concern, and that in the coming months these concerns will be adressed and solved.
The AO foundation is a nonprofit organization involved in research, development, quality assurance and educational activities. It is comprised of an international network of more than 5,000 surgeons and specializes in trauma, spinal, craniomaxillofacial and veterinary surgery.
