Cochlear Limited yesterday announced the completion of its acquisition of the Oticon Medical cochlear implant business from Danish-headquartered hearing health company Demant.
An ASX announcement from Cochlear on 21 May 2024 said all required conditionality had been satisfied and it would support the hearing health outcomes of 20,000 people who had received Oticon Medical cochlear implants.
The statement said the acquired cochlear implant business would be integrated into Cochlear over the next few months.
It said that following Demant’s decision to discontinue its efforts in hearing implants, Cochlear had acquired Demant’s cochlear implant business for a zero headline purchase price.
Cochlear’s CEO and president Mr Dig Howitt said: “We welcome Oticon Medical’s cochlear implant customers to Cochlear and remain committed to supporting the long-term hearing outcomes of these 20,000 patients.
“Customers are our priority as we work closely with Demant for a smooth transition.
“Driven by our mission to innovate and deliver a lifetime of hearing outcomes, we will seek to provide Oticon Medical’s cochlear implant customers continued support with a lifetime of hearing solutions.
“We will develop and commercialise next generation sound processors and services to enable the vast majority of customers to transition to Cochlear’s technology platform over time.
“We will also support customers with continued access to repairs and replacements of current Oticon Medical cochlear implant technology for as long as feasible.”
Cochlear said it expected to incur integration costs in the 2024 financial year of about $30 million pre-tax, primarily related to restructuring.
This amount would be reported as a non-recurring significant item, with no impact on Cochlear’s 2024 financial year underlying net profit guidance of $385 million to $400 million.
Cochlear, a global leader in implantable hearing solutions, announced in April 2022 that it had agreed to buy Oticon Medical, Demant’s hearing implant business. It said at the time that Oticon Medical was expected to add $75 million to $80 million to annual revenue.
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