A long road to the next stage for Fresenius

It has taken a year and a half, but Fresenius Medical Care has finally closed the $2bn acquisition of the home dialysis company Nxstage Medical. Delayed by the US Federal Trade Commission and subsequently by the recent US government shutdown, this is the slowest megadeal to close since Abbott’s ill-omened purchase of Alere in 2017. The FTC only gave the deal its blessing after Nxstage’s bloodline tubing set business was divested to B. Braun Medical. Fresenius has also put an end to another long-running saga: it has paid the US Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission €224m ($255m) to settle violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Fresenius itself reported the violations, the nature of which it has not disclosed other than to say they took place outside the US, in 2012.