Boston Scientific (BSX): Saving Itself Through Auctioning Off Pieces

Investing

Published: November 5, 2007 5:54 am

Boston Scientific (BSX) did it shareholders a terrible disservice buy buying Guidant in a bidding war with Johnson & Johnson. It now has long-term debt of almost $8.3 billion. Troubles in its stent business have hurt earnings and the company lost money last quarter.

BSX shares which went from $13 five years ago to $44 in mid-2004, are back to $13. And, all of this is because management thought M&A would make the company bigger through cutting costs at an acquired company and relying on "synergy".

Well, it did not work, and now BSX has to auction off pieces of the company to save its skin and cover its debt service.

Boston Scientific has just sold its cardiac surgery and vascular surgery units off to Swedish company Getinge for $750 million in cash. These units went because, according to BSX, they were non-core assets.

When the going gets tough, all assets become "non-core".

Douglas A. McIntyre

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