Boston Scientific Corp. has won the battle for Guidant Corp. after the Indianapolis-based heart devices maker said it ended an agreement with Johnson & Johnson, which first sealed an agreed bid for Guidant than a year ago.
Guidant and Boston Scientific issued a joint statement on Wednesday saying Natick, Mass.-based Boston Scientific will pay $80 a share in cash and stock or a total of $27 billion. Guidant entered the bidding late last year after J&J lowered its offer price due to a recall of certain Guidant devices. A bidding war then ensued with Boston Scientific unveiling the winning bid Jan. 17.
