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Biomet Goes Solo in Europe

Biomet is buying out Merck's share of their successful orthopedics joint venture in Europe. Although Biomet ran into few, if any, major disagreements with Merck over the life of the joint venture, the joint ownership did sometimes put Biomet in a difficult position. Potential acquisitions all had to be viewed for their potential financial implications on Merck. Thus, one major benefit of the buyout, in addition to giving Biomet more efficient European operations, is that it frees the company to do more acquisitions.

Six years ago, seeking to boost sales and build a more robust European business, Warsaw, IN-based Biomet Inc. created a joint venture with German pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck KGAA . [See Deal] Each company would leverage its existing offerings and operations with the complementary offerings of its partner. But the very success of the joint effort led to its demise, at least as a collaboration, with Biomet announcing in December that it has bought out Merck and will run the continued operations on its own.

Biomet and Merck began their joint venture, called Biomet-Merck, in February of 1998. Biomet brought its European orthopedics operations to the deal, including a full line of total joint replacements...

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