A couple of years ago, when Sulzer Medica Ltd. put its cardiac rhythm management business up for sale, Italian medical device leader Sorin Biomedica Cardio SPA , a division of Snia SPA , was one of the companies that bid for it. How seriously anyone took Sorin's bid is another question.
With this deal, Sorin, which is strong in cardiac surgery—particularly heart valves and, to a lesser degree, minimally-invasive cardiac surgery—and has been making in-roads into interventional cardiology with a line...