Symmetry Medical Closes Acquisition of Surgical Instruments Business of Codman & Shurtleff

Symmetry Medical Inc. a leading global source of medical device solutions including surgical instruments, orthopedic implants and sterilization cases and trays, has closed the previously announced acquisition of the surgical instruments business of Codman & Shurtleff, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.

Beginning in the first quarter 2012, Symmetry will integrate Codman's line of surgical instruments with the company's current hospital direct business, Specialty Surgical Instrumentation. The combined hospital direct general surgical instruments business will be re-named Symmetry Surgical and is expected to have more than $100 million in annual sales.

Thomas J. Sullivan, president and CEO of Symmetry Medical, says, "Symmetry Surgical provides several strategic benefits for our overall business, including increased revenue diversification, enhanced gross margin, a strategic instruments procurement capability in Tuttlingen, Germany, a strengthened intellectual property portfolio, and innovation driven by access to broader hospital market intelligence in additional surgical specialties. Our resulting offering will be one of the broadest and most respected product portfolios in the $1 billion market for general surgical instruments. This positions us well to continue growing our US market share in the hospital direct business, as well as building on the strong international presence established abroad by the brands acquired from Codman."