Eversheds Sutherland advises Edwards Lifesciences on its US$4.2bn sale of Critical Care

Edwards Lifesciences is a global leader in patient-focused medical innovations for structural heart disease. The Critical Care product group is an industry leader in advanced patient monitoring with advanced AI algorithms serving millions of patients globally.

The global Eversheds Sutherland Lifesciences team was led by Antony Walsh, M&A Partner and the firm’s Client Partner to Edwards, and Lee Harris, a Life Sciences sector M&A Partner. The core team comprised Partners: Barri Mendelsohn (M&A), Rachel Cooper, Edward Tompkin-Haag and Kelly Holmes (commercial), regulatory partner Phil Crosbie and procurement law partner Christopher Murray.

The Eversheds Sutherland team supported Edwards on all outside-US aspects of the transaction.  The wider deal team exceeded 100 international lawyers across Eversheds Sutherland’s global network, coordinated and led by Wyn Jones, Legal Director and head of Legal Project Management, with support from Konexo and our legal project management systems.

Critical Care group will become part of BD, one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world, while Edwards will use the proceeds from the sale to fund strategic initiatives including previously announced acquisitions and share repurchases.

Antony Walsh, Eversheds Sutherland, commented:


“Size and scale was a key component in our ability to spin-up and support the delivery of this deal within a relatively short time frame.  The key value-add from our team was our deep global life sciences sector knowledge and the ability to deliver that advice globally, from a strategy perspective, and locally, from an implementation perspective. The blend of Corporate, Commercial and Regulatory advice, delivered across dozens of jurisdictions, provided through this sector lens was a major contributor to the success of this transaction. Our use of Legal Project Management and technology to support transaction delivery made the whole experience crisp, clear and coordinated. I am hugely grateful to the Edwards team for the opportunity and insights and to our teams for their tenacity and experience."

Lee Harris, Eversheds Sutherland, commented:


“We’re delighted to have advised and supported Edwards on this transaction. A fantastic, collaborative team effort, which drew on a significant range of legal capabilities, commercial acumen, insights and experience to spin-up and deliver a successful global closing.”