FTC and EC grant clearance for Medtronic acquisition of Covidien

Medtronic recently announced it has received clearance from the Federal Trade Commission and conditional clearance from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of Covidien.

Clearance from the FTC comes on the heels of Medtronic and Covidien’s agreement to a proposed consent order, which included a commitment to divest certain Covidien assets to The Spectranetics Corporation — an allocation that will take place following the finalization of the proposed acquisition and the factor upon which the EC’s conditional clearance hinges, according to a company press release.
The acquisition of Covidien is expected to close early in 2015 following additional clearances from the shareholders of both companies, as well as a sanction from the High Court of Ireland.

“This regulatory clearance represents an important milestone in bringing our companies together,” Omar Ishrak, chairman and CEO of Medtronic, said in the release. "We continue to make good progress in planning for the integration of these two companies which will unite them under a single mission: to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life for patients with chronic disease around the world.”

Reference: www.medtronic.com.