KKR agrees to take medtech supplier Integer Holdings private
Money MovesA $5.7 billion all-cash deal pulls a major maker of heart- and nerve-device parts off public markets.
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Overview
Integer Holdings builds the parts that go inside pacemakers, defibrillators, and nerve-stimulation devices. On August 3, the private-equity firm KKR agreed to buy the whole company for about $5.7 billion and pull it off the public market.
Integer is one of the largest contract manufacturers in medical technology, supplying Abbott, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic. Shareholders get $127 a share in cash, a 52% premium to the price before the company put itself up for review. If the deal closes by year-end, a critical supplier leaves public markets and moves under private ownership.
Why it matters
A company that makes parts inside heart and nerve devices for Abbott, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic will now answer to private-equity owners.
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Global investment firm buying Integer Holdings in a $5.7 billion take-private deal.
One of the largest contract manufacturers of medical-device components, based in Plano, Texas.
Timeline
May 2023 August 2026
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KKR agrees to buy Integer for $5.7 billion
Latest M&AKKR will pay $127 a share in cash, a 52% premium to Integer's price before the review. The deal is set to close by the end of 2026.
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Integer opens a strategic review
CorporateThe company announces a review to weigh its options after what it calls strong interest. The move puts Integer in play.
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Payman Khales takes over as CEO
LeadershipKhales, the company's first chief operating officer, replaces the retiring Joseph Dziedzic and joins the board.
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KKR's Envision Healthcare files for bankruptcy
ContextKKR's $9.9 billion healthcare buyout collapses into Chapter 11, costing the firm about $5 billion. It frames the risk in KKR's healthcare deals.
Historical Context
3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.
KKR buys Envision Healthcare (2018-2023)
KKR bought physician-staffing company Envision Healthcare in 2018 for $9.9 billion, including debt. Envision staffed emergency rooms and billed patients directly. A 2020 federal law against surprise medical bills gutted that model.
Envision filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2023 with roughly $7 billion in debt. Lenders took over the assets.
KKR lost about $5 billion, one of its biggest healthcare failures.
Integer is a healthcare bet too, but a different kind. It sells parts to device makers instead of billing patients, so it avoids the payment-reform risk that sank Envision.
Novo Holdings buys Catalent (2024)
Novo Holdings agreed to buy Catalent, a contract manufacturer for drugmakers, for $16.5 billion. The deal took a critical supplier private and closed in December 2024.
Catalent left public markets and became a private supplier feeding the pharma industry, including Novo's own weight-loss drugs.
It showed strong buyer appetite for the outsourced manufacturers that big drug and device companies depend on.
Like Catalent, Integer is a behind-the-scenes maker that others rely on. Both deals pull that kind of supplier off public markets and under a single owner.
Medline leveraged buyout (2021)
Blackstone, Carlyle, and Hellman & Friedman bought medical-supply maker Medline in a deal worth about $34 billion including debt. It was the largest healthcare buyout in years.
Medline stayed private and kept supplying hospitals with gloves, gowns, and other basics.
The deal showed how far private equity had moved into the medical supply chain.
Integer, like Medline, is a supplier rather than a brand patients recognize. The buyout continues private equity's push into the plumbing of healthcare.
