Answer: Swiss-based Medacta.
When a wounded Alberto Siccardi lay at the bottom of the Bernina mountain range in the Swiss Alps in the early ’90s, he couldn’t have imagined the upward climb that would result from his painful experience…or that his fall would ultimately elevate the lives of millions of people worldwide.
In the aftermath of Dr. Siccardi’s less-than-ideal surgery to repair his hip, the initial seeds of Medacta International began to germinate. But the family’s dedication to patient care dates back to 1958 when Alberto’s father, Dr. Francesco Siccardi, Sr., founded Bieffe Biochimici, a company whose globally offered specialties included dialysis, urology and IV perfusion.
In 1997 Baxter International acquired the medical fluids products unit of the company, and two years later the family decided to enter the orthopedic market with the founding of Medacta International.
Lugano, Switzerland-based Medacta is the 5th largest hip and knee manufacturer in the world, the only orthopedic company founded by a patient and, by virtue of its 1,000 hardworking employees, also the fastest-growing major integrated supplier of orthopedic implants (15% annual sales growth in the last three years).
And, it is officially 20 years young.
To showcase 20 years of innovation and growth, Medacta held its 9th M.O.R.E. (Medacta Orthopaedic Research and Education) International Symposium in Lugano, Switzerland from April 11-13, an event that welcomed approximately 1,500 attendees from around the globe.
And OTW—yours truly—was along for the exciting ride.
Medacta’s April Public Offering of Stock
On April 4, 2019, Medacta became a public company with shares available for purchase on the Swiss Exchange. The opening price for one share of Medacta stock was CHF104 ($106). Given the number of shares outstanding, the implied total market value for the company came to $2.08 billion.
The founding Siccardi family sold about 6.1 million of their shares (about one third of the total stock) ) but will still keep effective ownership control of the company they founded.
Medacta’s sales in 2018 were 273 million euros ($307 million) with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization about 32% of sales—among the best in all of orthopedics.
Medacta’s debut on the Swiss Exchange is the first IPO of 2019.
Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are joint global coordinators for Medacta’s IPO. JP Morgan and UBS Investment Bank are joint bookrunners. Rothschild was the independent financial adviser to Medacta.
The Siccardi family celebrated this landmark event by ringing the traditional Swiss bell at the Swiss Exchange, effectively opening the Swiss IPO season.
Francesco Siccardi assumed the role of CEO on November 1, 2018, taking the helm after his father, who served in that position for nearly 20 years. A biomedical engineer, Francesco served as Executive Vice President of Medacta for eight years. He told OTW, “We are so pleased with the IPO as it will help us continue to augment the patient experience. Our expanded group of investors is helping to position Medacta as the go-to company for surgeons who want meticulously-designed implants and the support and education to back them up.”
Regarding the timing and strategy involved in the company’s stock market debut, Francesco Siccardi stated, “Our goal was to ensure that any type of transaction would not jeopardize the family’s control of the company, meaning that private equity was not a possibility. One year ago, we determined that placing a minority portion of the company into the stock market would be a good solution. While the market was going well at that point, in October 2018 there was the crash. Despite this, we were able to execute on our initial timeline.”
