Wright Medical Gets Its Long-Awaited Bid From A Somewhat Surprising Buyer

Investors have long assumed that Wright Medical (WMGI) was a “when, not if” buyout target in the med-tech space. Indeed, any time I’ve written anything even remotely critical of the company over the years, there’s been at least one comment of, “it doesn’t matter … (CEO) Bob Palmisano” is just going to sell the company anyway.” These expectations came to fruition on Monday with the $30.75/share, $5.4 billion bid for the company from ortho giant Stryker (SYK).

I’ll admit I’m a little surprised that Stryker stepped up for this deal (for reasons I’ll explain later), but I can also see the logic. For Stryker, this is a somewhat pricey deal with sound long-term strategic positives. For Wright Medical, this is a graceful exit for a company that has continued to struggle with its sales execution in the lower extremity space despite a strong product portfolio and a strong upper extremity business.

Read the full article here:
Wright Medical Gets Its Long-Awaited Bid From A Somewhat Surprising Buyer