Zimmer Holdings Inc (Warsaw, IN) announced two acquisitions at the end of December. The first was Switzerland-based Sodem Diffusion S.A., which manufactures SoPlus Orthopaedic Surgical Power Tools. The company will be renamed Zimmer Surgical S.A. and will be part of Zimmer Surgical, headquartered in Dover, OH. The acquisition of Beijing Montagne Medical Device Company, Ltd was also announced.

"Adding SoPlus's innovative small and large bone product lines to our portfolio will expand our offerings in the orthopedic power equipment market," said Mark Dorris, President, Zimmer Surgical, in a release.

This acquisition broadens Zimmer's portfolio of surgical power tools and strengthens the company's position in the over $1 billion surgical power tool market. Sodem Diffusion's portfolio includes the commercially available SoPlus Universal large bone system and the SoPlus Ultra small bone system with associated consumables.

Zimmer’s acquisition of Beijing Montagne was part of the company’s strategy to increase its presence in the emerging Chinese market.  

"Our expansion in China demonstrates Zimmer's commitment to invest globally in high-growth emerging markets," said David C. Dvorak, president and CEO of Zimmer.

The acquisition provides an expanded product line in hips, knees, and powered surgical instruments tailored to the Chinese market.  "We want to create products that address the unique needs of the Chinese market.  Montagne will provide us access to additional research, development, and manufacturing capabilities that will allow us to achieve this goal," said Stephen Ooi, Zimmer President, Asia Pacific.

An analyst at investment firm Zacks Investment Research said that it is “encouraged to note that Zimmer expects to mitigate [market] pressures” with the launch of its patient-specific and posterior referencing instrumentation systems. It says that the company expects some of Zimmer’s new products to consistently contribute to growth going forward. These products include the MMC metal-on-metal hip cup and Continuum acetabular system along with limited rollout of posterior referencing instruments (PRI) for its NextGen Knee.