Johnson & Johnson Now the Production Leader on the Medical Devices Market

Johnson & Johnson announced on Tuesday that is ready to sign the deal with Guidant for 21.5 billion dollars in cash and stocks. J&J will acquire Guidant now for less than 4 billion dollars than last year when the first offer was made.

Guidant makes implantable heart care devices and agreed the new terms of J&J's offer which gives them about 63.08 dollars a share, compared to 76$ a share offered in December.

Because thousands of pacemakers and implantable defibrillators made by Guidant have been recalled from the market, the combination was delayed and so the investors started to worry that the deal would not take place any more. J&J also started to have doubts about this, so on Nov 4 Guidant notified J&J that it would pursue a legal complaint if they would not go on with the deal.

The shares for Guidant closed yesterday at 57.75 dollars a share at New York Stock Exchange, losing 96 cents; also the shares of J&J dropped 41 cents and stopped at 60.51$.

With this acquisition of the heart- rhythm products will give Johnson & Johnson the rank of the world's biggest maker of medical devices. J&J will be provided by Guidant with a part of the fast-growing medical technology: pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. A health-care strategist that works for Miller Tabak and Co. in New York - Les Funtleyder says that the global market for defibrillators and pacemakers reaches 10 billion dollars a year.