Originally Published MX January/February 2005

BUSINESS NEWS

Weldon

Over the years they've talked before—but to no avail. But this time—pending antitrust scrutiny by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—the deal between Johnson & Johnson Inc. (New Brunswick, NJ) and Guidant Corp. (Indianapolis) looks like the real thing.

Under the terms of the deal, J&J will pay $23.9 billion to acquire Guidant. The deal represents the largest-ever acquisition by J&J, almost doubling the $13 billion the company paid for drug-delivery firm Alza in 2001.

In acquiring Guidant, J&J gains access to the company's cardiac rhythm management business, a medical device segment in which J&J currently has no products. Guidant's 2003 sales from implantable defibrillators and pacemakers were around $2.2 billion of its $3.7 billion total revenue for the year. Commenting on the acquisition, William C. Weldon, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, said, "The combination of these businesses will enable us to bring innovative new therapies to patients and their physicians in this very important and fast-growing therapeutic area."

Valeriani