Dive Brief:

• Stryker announced Monday morning it's extending its offer period for outstanding Wright Medical shares to Nov. 10, pushing the earliest potential close of the deal more than one year after it was originally announced.
• It's the seventh such extension since Stryker disclosed its plan to put up $5.4 billion to buy the extremities and biologics company on Nov. 4, 2019. Per the prior extension, the offer was set to expire this Wednesday, Oct. 28.
• The time-to-close may have been slowed by disruptions from COVID-19 in 2020 and the need for divestitures to satisfy antitrust regulators' reviews. Still, the Nov. 10 date reflects a delay compared to optimistic estimates in recent months from Stryker management.

Dive Insight:

Flash back to Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2019: the news of Stryker's plan to buy Wright Medical made waves as one of the largest medtech M&A announcements of the year. Stryker was looking to strengthen its position in the trauma and extremities markets.

The medtech giant knew it would be a while before the deal was finalized, telling investors at the time to expect the deal to close in the second half of 2020. From the get-go, analysts predicted that Stryker would likely run into antitrust concerns due to existing ankle replacement devices.

To help satisfy those regulator concerns, Stryker took an important step in securing Colfax subsidiary DJO Global as the buyer for its total ankle replacement and finger joint replacement products. The companies reached an agreement last week.

During the company's most recent earnings call at the end of July, although Stryker declined to answer questions about the Wright Medical deal, CEO Kevin Lobo told investors to expect the deal to close by the end of the third quarter or at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Then, at an investor conference in mid-September, Lobo said the deal was expected to close in early October. 

Stryker is set to host a conference call with investors and report third-quarter results this Thursday, Oct. 29.