Buyout news worries some at LDR Holding (Austin Business Journal)
Austin frets proposed Zimmer Biomet takeover of LDR Holdings (MedCityNews)
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.’s history of buying up Austin medical device makers and ultimately shutting down those offices are prompting worries about the same thing happening to LDR Holding Corp., which is in the process of being acquired by Indiana-based Zimmer for about $1 billion.
That’s according to the Austin American-Statesman, which quoted Julie Dye, who used to work for Abbott Spine, a company that was bought in 2008 by Zimmer. In 2013, Zimmer shut down that office in Austin.
Ten years before than, in 2003, Zimmer bought Centerpulse AG, previously known as Sulzer Medica. It shut down Austin operations in 2004.
A Zimmer spokesman told the Statesman that it plans to maintain a presence in Austin this time, and LDR CEO Christophe Lavigne said “Zimmer Biomet plans to complement the spine business headquarters in Broomfield, Colo., by maintaining a significant presence in LDR’s strong technology hub here in Austin.”
Shares of LDR Holding (Nasdaq: LDRH) are up more than 60 percent since the buyout was announced Tuesday, closing at $36.92 Wednesday. The company, which produces spinal implants and technologies for treating spinal disorders, was founded in France in 2000 but moved its corporate headquarters to Austin in 2006 and went public in late 2013. It employed 562 people globally at the end of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing, and about 200 in Austin, the Statesman reported.
