Biomet Deal Expected To Close This Month

WARSAW, Ind. (AP) — The $11.4 billion buyout of orthopedics manufacturer Biomet Inc. should be completed by the end of this month, the company announced Wednesday.

 

Biomet said shareholders attending a special meeting voted to approve the deal. The vote was a formality because the private consortium buying Biomet announced in July that nearly 83 percent of the company's shares had been tendered toward the deal. The company needed at least 75 percent for it to go forward.

 

The group includes affiliates of the Blackstone Group, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and TPG.

 

It offered in June to pay $46 a share to purchase Biomet. That represented a 4.5 percent increase from a previous proposal of $10.9 billion or $44 a share.

 

Biomet was established in 1977 and is one of three orthopedics companies based in Warsaw, about 40 miles south of South Bend, Ind. The company makes products used mostly by orthopedic surgeons for procedures such as hip or knee implants.

 

Analysts have said the deal could help the company by allowing it to focus on improvement. Biomet's hip and knee products have done well, but the trauma and spine businesses have underperformed and hampered the stock's performance.