Medtronic Unveils Post-Merger Leadership Team

Medtronic recently announced the executive team that will lead the new company created by the Medtronic-Covidien merger.

Current Medtronic chairman and CEO Omar Ishrak will retain his top position in the new company, which will be called Medtronic plc. The company will be led by a new executive committee that will oversee four business groups and four geographic regions, according to a recent statement from Medtronic.

Per the company statement, the operating groups and their leaders will be:

• Cardiac and Vascular Group (CVG), Mike Coyle of Medtronic
• Diabetes Group, Hooman Hakami of Medtronic
• Restorative Therapies Group (RTG), Chris O’Connell of Medtronic
• Covidien Group, Bryan Hanson, currently group president, Covidien

The new lineup means that Coyle, Hakami, and O’Connell will remain at the helm of their current teams at Medtronic, while the newly-created Covidien division will be led by Hanson.

Medtronic added in its statement that Covidien’s Peripheral Vascular business, including the Endovascular, Arterial, and CVI units, will join the Aortic and Peripheral Vascular business under Medtronic’s CVG Group. Covidien's Neurovascular business will be subsumed into the RTG Group.

"The planned acquisition of Covidien will greatly accelerate our joint vision to transform healthcare around the world, improving our ability to address the needs of more patients, in more ways, and in more places than ever before," Ishrak said in the statement.

Medtronic also said that that the new company will organize into four major regions, including Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Greater China. Bob White, current president of Covidien’s Emerging Markets, will lead the Asia-Pacific unit based in Singapore. Mike Genau, current leader of Medtronic’s Integrated Health Services in the U.S., will become senior vice president and president of the Americas Region. Rob ten Hoedt, who currently heads the European regional business, and Chris Lee, presently the unit president for the China Region, will remain in their current roles.

Medtronic agreed to merge with Irish firm Covidien for $43 billion earlier this year, according to the Wall Street Journal, in a “so-called inversion deal that will give the company an Irish address, a lower overall tax rate and more overseas cash to spend in the U.S. without paying U.S. taxes.” Until the transaction is completed by late this year or early next year, the two companies are expected to operate separately.

Despite new tax rules that threaten to derail the merger, Medtronic recently reaffirmed its commitment to complete the deal by using $16 billion in external debt for the cash portion of the merger. Thus, the $42.9 billion deal announced by the two companies in June remains intact.

“This proposed acquisition was conceived and undertaken for strategic reasons and is intended to create a company that can treat more patients, in more ways and in more places around the world,” Ishrak said in the press release announcing the financing update. “We believe our combination will be uniquely positioned to help advance the goals of the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. as well as the objectives of virtually all health systems — to drive access to high-quality, affordable health care for patients around the world.”