By Reportlinker

NEW YORK, July 20, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue:

Orthopaedics: Market Prospects & Global Competition

Link here

Growth in the global orthopaedic market is projected to be 5% over the period 2010-15. By 2015, orthopaedic revenues are expected to total US$46.8 billion compared with US$36.5 billion in 2010 – but which sector is driving this growth?

The orthopaedic market hasn’t been immune to the economic downturn that has plagued world economies in recent times.

Some of the smaller companies, particularly those at the cutting edge of the market, found themselves short of cash and with little in the way of white knights to help make up the shortfall. Even companies like Abbott have baulked at the pressures of the industry – choosing to quit the spine industry in 2008 for example. Meanwhile Biomet‘s private equity owners must be kicking themselves over the timing of their billion dollar investment just before the market downturn.

Now things are slowly changing. Private equity has returned to the industry and some of those calls for cash are finally getting answered by investors. It’s also become noticeable that some of these investors are being able to successfully sell some of their business holdings with their pride relatively intact. And the reasons why we need these devices are growing evermore present.

The strength of the orthopaedics sector is that the fundamentals remain strong. It is one of the fastest growing sectors in the industry, thanks to the impact of an expanding elderly population and the associated steady rise and diagnosis in musculoskeletal disorders which will keep demand high.

Use this new report to easily answer key business questions such as:

• Which orthopaedic sector is forecast to grow to US$8.3 billion by 2015?
• At the time of publication, there were 19 significant acquisitions in 2011 – who were the buyers, and how will it affect their market position in the future?
• Which region of the world is expected to achieve a CAGR approaching 10%?
• Which country posted the fastest growth in 2010 for hip and knee replacement procedures?
• What is the market share of the leading companies?
• Why would those interested in the spine market particularly note the performance of Alphatec Spine, Anika Therapeutics and Medicrea?
• What strengths does BioMimetic have in the competitive orthobiologics sector
• A complete analysis packed with facts, forecasts and detailed company evaluations

Mergers & Acquisitions: a return of capital sees activity levels increase

After a quiet 2009, 2010 saw a return to confidence with a number of substantial acquisitions going through. In March 2010, Baxter International announced the US$330 million takeover of ApaTech, a UK company specialising in orthobiologics.

Also in March, Alphatec Spine went ahead with a US$127 million deal to acquire Scient’x, the French spinal devices developer. Towards the end of the year, Medtronic continued with its aggressive growth strategy and strengthened its orthobiologics operations by acquiring Osteotech in a US$123 million transaction.

If further evidence was needed of changing times, it can be found in the April 2011 announcement of Johnson & Johnson’s (DePuy) US$21.3 billion takeover of Synthes; the first ‘mega-deal’ since Biomet was bought out in 2007 and which has consolidated DePuy’s status as the global leader in orthopaedics.

Spine and Orthobiologics return to favour

M&A activity in the spine and orthobiologics sectors was subdued in 2009/10, but has returned with vigour in the first half of 2011. Facet Solutions, Applied Spine Technologies and Impliant were all snapped up for undisclosed sums between January and May, and activity culminated with an US$89 buy out of SeaSpine by Integra LifeSciences in May. This deal was, of course, dwarfed by Stryker’s US$318 million investment in Orthovita in May 2011, which has to date been the year’s major orthobiologics acquisition.

Joining the US$1 billion club?

Seven companies reported orthopaedic revenues exceeding US$1 billion in 2010. Together, these seven (Stryker, DePuy, Zimmer, Smith & Nephew, Biomet, Synthes and Medtronic) accounted for over 80% of the overall orthopaedic market. All but two have broad orthopaedic portfolios, the exceptions being Synthes and Medtronic who feature as orthopaedic market leaders by virtue of their dominance in their own specific niches, namely trauma and spinal. New future members are most likely to be DJO and Hanger Orthopaedic the specialists in rehabilitation and bracing services who are both fast approaching the US$1 billion revenue mark.