Smith & Nephew boss speaks out over ‘mega-mergers’

In an interview in the Telegraph, Oliver Bohuon, head of Smith & Nephew has spoken out against ‘defensive’ mega-mergers and tax-driven deals that have swept the healthcare sector in the last few months.

The company has been the subject of several takeover rumours in recent times.  It is particularly attractive to US businesses looking for the tax benefits of moving to the UK. One of these was Stryker which admitted that it was considering making a takeover offer at some point in the future.

Bohuon told Denise Roland that he was not interested in striking a deal with another large med tech company.

“These are exactly the deals we don’t want to do,” he said.

According to Bohuon, the medical sector should not be surprised by the wave of consolidation and the main driver behind these deals is a bid to reduce costs and that we should expect to see more of them.

“A good deal must always have a strategy component. If it’s just for money, I’m not sure this is great,” he told the newspaper.  

He also revealed that the company is looking at offering a ‘no frills’ service in the US for those who cannot afford Smith & Nephews’ premium product range.