An Alpharetta-based medical technology company, which had a $100 million judgment issued against it earlier this year, is selling the part of its business that was targeted in that suit.
Halyard Health is selling its surgical and infection prevention business to Virginia-based Owens & Minor for $710 million, a deal to be completed early next year, the company announced earlier this month. The deal also calls for sale of the Halyard Health brand, as well as the information technology used by the units.
Halyard "has initiated a rebranding process," implying plans to change its name, according to an official statement by the company. However, the company says that its headquarters will remain in Alpharetta. It was unclear if the sale will result in job losses locally.
A spokeswoman for the company was unavailable for comment.
The company had revenues of $401.4 million and earnings of $16.6 million last quarter. How much revenue is produced by the units being sold was unclear.
Halyard was spun off from Kimberly-Clark Corp. in 2014.
Earlier this year, Halyard and Kimberly-Clark went to trial in a civil suit in which the plaintiffs – Bahamas Surgery Center – charged that the companies had produced and sold defective surgical gowns. Those materials, the plaintiffs said, permitted the penetration of blood, along bacteria and viruses.
The jury found for plaintiffs and ordered the defendants to pay $454 million in damages, most of it punitive. Of that total, Halyard was ordered to pay $100 million.
Both Halyard and Kimberly-Clark have appealed the decision. Kimberly-Clark also has sued Halyard, arguing that previous agreements between the companies obligate Halyard to indemnify it Kimberly-Clark for the $354 million balance.
Halyard maintains that the agreement “does not expressly state” a responsibility for indemnifying Kimberly-Clark.
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