3M to buy medical device maker Acelity in $ 6.7 b deal

Reuters: 3M Co said yesterday it would buy privately held medical device maker Acelity Inc in a deal valued at $ 6.7 billion, including debt, as the US industrial conglomerate looks to expand its business in medical dressings and related products. 

The maker of Post-It notes and Scotch tape is buying the company and some of its units from a consortium of funds advised by Apax Partners, affiliates of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board. 

Acelity, under its KCI brand, makes advanced wound dressings and specialised systems that use a vacuum to seal off acute or chronic wounds, promoting faster healing. 

The company reported revenue of $ 1.5 billion in 2018, nearly 80% of which came from sales of such specialised systems that provide ‘negative pressure wound therapy’. 

3M said the acquisition would boost its presence in the advanced wound care market, which is valued at more than $ 8 billion and is growing at a rate of 4-6% annually. 

The purchase price values Acelity at 15 times its 2018 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, 3M said. 

Acelity will become part of 3M’s medical solutions business that makes medical tapes, sterilisation products and acute wound care dressings products. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019. 

Excluding one-time expenses, 3M expects the deal to add 25 cents per share to its earnings in the first year following the closure of the deal. 

3M also said it now expects full-year 2019 share buyback program to be in the range of $ 1 billion to $ 1.5 billion, compared with a prior range of $ 2 billion to $ 4 billion. 

The company’s stock was down about 1% at $ 184.23 before the bell. 

Credit Suisse was financial adviser to 3M, while Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP was its legal counsel. 

J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs were the consortium’s financial advisers, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Jackson Walker LLP acting as its legal advisers.