Johnson Matthey, the U.K. metals and chemicals conglomerate, plans to sell off the entirety of its global Medical Device Components business, with manufacturing sites spanning the U.S., Mexico and Australia.
The £550 million deal, or about $700 million U.S., will see the division’s ownership transfer to Montagu Private Equity. It marks the second transaction in the sector by the firm in the past three months, after it carved out Cook Medical’s biotech unit in January and combined it with RTI Surgical, a regenerative medicine-focused contract development and manufacturing company.
After the deal for MDC closes, it is set to operate as a standalone company led by its current management, according to Montagu.
“We are delighted to be partnering with Montagu in the next phase of MDC’s development,” MDC chief Don Freeman said in a statement. “They bring a significant amount of expertise in healthcare and in particular IP-led medical devices, and they share our ambitions for the business over the coming years, both organically and through M&A.”
According to the company, MDC has delivered more than 500 million hardware components into the marketplace—including micromachined and wire parts made from nitinol alloys, platinum, titanium and other precious metals, all used to build catheter electrodes, stents, heart valves and pacemakers, as well as neuromodulation, cochlear and orthopedic implants.
Johnson Matthey, meanwhile, has been in the process of selling off the divisions it considers outside its core businesses of clean air equipment, platinum metals services, manufacturing catalysts and hydrogen fuel cell technologies. The company recently departed with its diagnostic services, piezoelectronics and battery system units.
In Johnson Matthey’s most recent full fiscal year financial report (PDF), which ended March 31, 2023, medical device components delivered £93 million in revenue.
“The carve-out of MDC aligns strongly with Montagu’s approach. MDC has rare and hard-to-replicate capabilities that enable it to handle the most complex and demanding precision-engineered components at scale,” said Montagu partner Adrien Sassi.
"With support from Johnson Matthey, Don and his team have positioned the business to capitalize on the fast growth of its underlying markets and blue-chip OEM customers. We look forward to supporting their ambitious expansion plans,” Sassi said.
Montagu previously placed on our list of the largest medtech M&A deals of 2019, with a $1.15 billion partnership deal with the private equity firm Astorg over the ownership of the French drug delivery equipment specialist Nemera.