ICU MEDICAL BUYS SMITHS GROUP FOR $2.7 BILLION

British engineering conglomerate Smiths Group will sell its Smiths Medical division to California-based ICU Medical for $2.7 billion after rejecting a $2.3-billion bid from private equity firm TA Associates, the Financial Times reported.
The deal will leave Smiths with about an extra $50 million in cash, with the company’s stockholders owning 10 percent of the new entity’s shares, worth roughly $500 million.
A positive performance by the new entity could result in another $100 million added to the deal, the FT noted.
Terms of the sale, set to close early next year, include a $300-million penalty if ICU backs out of the agreement.
The combination expands ICU Medical’s catalog of equipment it offers to hospitals’ emergency rooms and intensive care units.
The British firm shed its medical division to focus more sharply on industrial technology, the company said.
Smiths’ share price bumped up 3 percent after the sale was announced.
Smiths Medical, which makes specialized medical equipment and single-use supplies, reported £918 million—more than $1.2 billion—in 2020. 
TRENDPOST: Once again, more consolidation in the medical field. Thus, the more monopolization, the greater the power of those that control the industry who in turn pay-off politicians with bribes (that morons and imbeciles call campaign contributions) to charge what they want and do as they wish at the cost of the general public.