NEW YORK (AP) — Dentsply International is buying competitor Sirona Dental Systems for about $5.51 billion in a deal the companies say will create the biggest maker of professional dental products and materials in the world.
The companies say they will have $3.8 billion in combined sales of everything from high-tech chairs to tooth whiteners, anesthetics, and systems that dentists use to take 3-D scans of patients' mouths and make ceramic tooth replacements that can be implanted during a single visit. The combined company will be called Dentsply Sirona.
The pair expect to complete the all-stock deal in the first quarter of 2016, pending approval from antitrust regulators and shareholders. They said Sirona shareholders will get 1.8142 shares of Dentsply for every share of Sirona they own. Based on the closing price of Dentsply on Tuesday, that would value Sirona stock at $98.60 per share, a small discount to Tuesday's closing price of $99.31.
Sirona shares fell $1.31 to $98 in aftermarket trading. Shares of Dentsply dropped $1.95, or 3.6 percent, to $52.40.
Both companies make a wide variety of products, but Dentsply International Inc. says it is the biggest maker of consumable dental products — things that need to be replaced regularly — for professionals, while Sirona Dental Systems Inc., which says it introduced the first dental electric drill and first dental X-ray unit, touts itself as a high-tech company.
Dentsply shareholders will own 58 percent of the company. Sirona CEO Jeffrey Slovin will be CEO of the combined company, and Dentsply Chairman and CEO Bret Wise will be chairman.
The companies said they plan to buy back $500 million in stock as soon as possible after the closing and will maintain Dentsply's quarterly dividend of 29 cents.
Dentsply Sirona will be headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, where Dentsply is based, and it will keep Dentsply's "XRAY" stock ticker. Sirona is based in Long Island City, New York.