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Results of Investigation on the Transaction Plan of Zimmer and Biomet

Results of Investigation on the Transaction Plan of Zimmer and Biomet

March 25, 2015
Japan Fair Trade Commission

Regarding the Transaction of Zimmer, Inc. (Head Office based in the USA; the corporate group to which the company belongs is hereinafter referred to as “Zimmer”) and Biomet, Inc. (Head Office based in the USA; the corporate group to which the company belongs is hereinafter referred to as “Biomet”, and hereinafter Zimmer and Biomet are collectively referred to as “the Parties”) (hereinafter referred to as “the Transaction”) (Note), the Japan Fair Trade Commission (the JFTC) received a written notification of the plan from the Parties based on the regulations of the Antimonopoly Act, and has undertaken its investigation. As a result, on the premise that the remedy proposed by the Parties would be taken, the JFTC concluded that the Transaction would not substantially restrain competition in any particular fields of trades, and thereby notified the Parties of not issuing a cease and desist order.

The JFTC kept cooperating with the United States Federal Trade Commission (USFTC), the European Commission (EC) which also investigated the same transaction and others also investigate the Transaction.

Note: The Transaction is (1) for a subsidiary company of Zimmer, Inc. and a parent company of Biomet, Inc. to merger with the parent company of Biomet, Inc. to be the surviving company, and (2) for Zimmer, Inc. to acquire all the stocks of the company after the merger.

1. Outline of the Transaction

This aims at consolidating Zimmer and Biomet manufacturing and marketing business of medical devices.

2. Sequence of events

2014 August 4th
Acceptance of a notification of the plan on merger and a notification of the plan on stock acquisition (commencement of the preliminary investigation)

2014 September 3rd
Request for reports etc. (commencement of the secondary investigation)

2014 December 25th
Acceptance of all reports and others the JFTC requested.
(Deadline of advance notice: March 26th, 2015)

2015 March 25th
Notice of not issuing a cease and desist order

3. Conclusion

On the premise that the remedy on “UKA (one type of artificial knee joints)” and “artificial elbow joints” proposed to the JFTC by the Parties would be taken, the JFTC concluded that the Transaction would not substantially restrain competition in any particular fields of trades (see the Attachment for the detailed results of the investigation on the summary of the products, remedies, etc.).

*Every announcement is tentative translation. Please refer to the original text written in Japanese.

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