Boston Scientific

Guidant's board declared a new $27 billion bid by Boston Scientific "superior." Johnson & Johnson has until January 24th to match the offer. As more details of the new deal emerged, it's clear that Abbott Laboratories is playing a larger role than previously believed. The company will contribute up to $6 billion in financing to support Boston Scientific's bid. Meanwhile, all the talk of medical devices is apparently exciting Wall Street and some analysts suspect that St. Jude may be …

In the latest twist in the dramatic bidding war over Guidant, Boston Scientific upped its offer for the device maker to $25.5 billion but said the company must accept or decline the offer by this afternoon. The offer includes concessions intended to reassure Guidant's board that Boston Scientific will take the steps necessary to close the transaction quickly.

Many analysts think the Guidant board may accept the new offer unless Johnson & Johnson raises its bid. "We suspect that …

Guidant accepted a $23.2 billion takeover offer from Johnson & Johnson, shocking analysts who had predicted that the company had lost the bidding war for the device maker. Guidant appeared to leave the door open for another offer from rival suitor Boston Scientific, however. Boston Scientific responded immediately, issuing a statement that concludes, "Our discussions with Guidant are ongoing. We intend to vigorously pursue this transaction to its completion." …

Boston Scientific raised its offer for Guidant to $25 billion as the bidding war between the company and Johnson & Johnson intensifies. Boston Scientific also said it has reached an agreement with Abbott Labs which would see the drug company pick up Guidant's vascular intervention business for about $4 billion. Analysts say the sale is necessary to satisfy antitrust regulators. Boston Scientific already has a strong stent business in its drug coated Taxus line, which had worldwide …

In the future, when business school classes meet to discuss the things that can go wrong when two companies decide to merge, it's likely that Guidant's agreement to be acquired by Johnson & Johnson will be held up as a key case study. Things went wrong almost from the start for the Indianapolis-based device maker, which found its case for a merger seriously damaged by the publicity surrounding major recalls of key pacemaker and defibrillator lines. At the time of writing, barring a …

The New York Times examines the consolidation trend in the market for nerve stimulation devices, looking at the prospects for a potential takeover of Houston-based Cyberonics by Boston Scientific. Cyberonics markets a much-talked-about implant for the treatment of severe depression that employs the technology. The newspaper looks at the growing popularity of similar devices for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and obesity as well as market skepticism.

- read this article from The New York Times

> The American Hospital Association is lobbying for more protections from Congress to allow hospitals to donate computer hardware and software to doctors. Release

> Boston Scientific said it is recalling its Flextome angioplasty balloon. Article

> USA …

Johnson & Johnson will probably not match Boston Scientific's $25 billion offer for Guidant. Media reports suggest that the Guidant board is leaning toward accepting the Boston Scientific bid. The move, which took Wall Street by surprise, has dramatically improved Boston Scientific's standing among analysts. The device maker's stock has languished over the past year, despite the success of its Taxus stent.

- see this article from the AP

Boston Scientific's surprise bid for Guidant triggered rumors on Wall Street of further consolidation in the medical device market. Shares of St. Jude Medical rose about 5 percent on speculation that the company could be the object of a takeover bid by another company. Most analysts are ruling out market leader Medtronic as a target, arguing that the company would be too expensive. "This is one of the hottest areas of medical technology and will be for several years," comments Phillip …

Boston Scientific offered to pay about $25 billion for rival device maker Guidant, topping an earlier bid by Johnson & Johnson by nearly $3 billion. Boston Scientific Chairman Pete Nicholas said his company is interested in its competitor's defibrillator and pacemaker lines. The deal would create a medical device superpower, uniting two dominant powers in the medical device industry. Nicholas acknowledged that Boston Scientific would probably have to sell off Guidant's stent business …