Stryker Buys German Surgical Firm BerchtoldStryker Buys German Surgical Firm Berchtold

Stryker Corp. is continuing its shopping spree with the purchase of Berchtold Holding AG (Schaffhausen, Germany) for $172 million in a deal announced February 18.

Berchtold is a privately held business with operating facilities in Germany and the United States and a presence in more than 120 other countries. It sells world-class surgical infrastructure equipment such as surgical tables, equipment booms, and surgical lighting systems. The company has been in business for more than 90 years and had 2013 sales of approximately $125 million. Their product portfolio is geared towards maximizing efficiency and safety in operating rooms and ICUs.

The press release announcing the deal said that "combining these complementary solutions with Stryker Endoscopy's existing operating room equipment portfolio will create a comprehensive, quality-focused offering equipped to satisfy a wide range of customer needs around the globe."

"We are committed to offering innovative, best-in-class operating room infrastructure equipment," said Timothy J. Scannell, group president of Stryker MedSurg and Neurotechnology. "This acquisition delivers on that commitment by strengthening our portfolio and allowing us to address rapidly evolving customer requirements for operating room design."

This acquisition, which is expected to close in the second quarter per customary closing conditions and the U.S. antitrust waiting period requirement, builds on Stryker's string of recent purchases in the operating room space.

On December 31, the company announced it way buying Patient Safety Technologies (Irvine, CA) for its bar code technology. Also in December the medtech giant said it had closed the deal for Mako Surgical, a maker of robotic arm assisted orthopaedic surgery technology, which had been announced in September. And back in March 2013, Stryker bought Trauson Holdings, the largest manufacturer of trauma devices in China. In addition to its manufacturing and research operations, that company has large distribution network.