Corin Orthopaedics to Acquire Wright Medical’s Hip and Knee Assets

Wright Medical (WMGI) received a binding offer under which Corin Orthopaedics would acquire WMGI’s large joints (hip/knee) business. This includes the entire legacy Tornier large joints business for €29.7MM in cash (~US $33MM), yielding net after-tax proceeds to WMGI of ~$20MM. The proposed transaction is expected to close by early 4Q16.

Tornier’s legacy large joint assets are sold primarily in France and other European countries, and comprise the brands of Dynacup® and Meije Duo® hips and HLS KneeTec® and HLS Noetos® knees.

Wright will retain an exclusive ability to use the Tornier name on its products; following a transition period, the divested products will transition to the Corin name. After closing, the legacy Tornier large joints business will continue to be headquartered in Montbonnot, France.

WMGI estimates place net annual sales for the products under consideration at ~$37MM. For 2015, ORTHOWORLD estimates had placed the company’s large joints revenue at $40.9MM, based upon non-GAAP combined pro forma net sales as reported on 2/23/16. (ORTHOWORLD estimates: Hips $12.7MM, Knees $28.2MM)

Wright Medical posted 2015 overall revenue of $656.4MM, of which Large Joints occupied ~6%. The divestiture frees the company to fully concentrate on biologics and extremities—a direction attempted in early 2014, with its sell-off of OrthoRecon to MicroPort. (Review that transaction and others in the timeline included in ORTHOKNOW® October 2015.)

Corin has a longstanding focus on large joints. Recently, in 1Q16, Corin and Intellijoint Surgical announced a strategic partnership granting to Corin distribution rights in Australia for the intellijoint HIP™, to complement Corin’s OPS Technology (Optimized Positioning System™), which Corin had acquired in late 2014. The company received FDA 510(k) clearance to market OPS in late 2Q16.

Sources: Wright Medical Group N.V.; ORTHOWORLD Inc.