Mooted Smith & Nephew bidder Medtronic boosts coffers with tax case win
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), the Dublin-headquartered medical devices group long tipped as a prospective acquirer for its British peer Smith & Nephew (LON:SN), has freed up cash after winning a legal battle over tax, the Financial Times reported. The report said USD 3bn of cash which was held in Puerto Rico will be released as a result.
Medtronic, whose operational headquarters is in Minnesota, USA, has played down talk of any tax-inversion deal and management has forecast a USD 1.5bn potential acquisition spend for the year, the report noted.
Smith & Nephew has a GBP 10.4bn (USD 14.8bn) market cap.
The original report appeared in the Financial Times, page 22
Financial Times