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Zimmer faces spinoff
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February 22, 2001: 2:50 p.m. ET
Bristol-Myers Squibb sets plan for orthopedics unit by end of third quarter
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bristol-Myers Squibb, the No. 3 U.S. drugmaker, disclosed Thursday that it plans to spin off its orthopedics unit, Zimmer, into a separately traded public company.
Bristol-Myers plans to spin out the company by the end of third quarter through a tax-free distribution to shareholders. However, the drugmaker has not determined whether Zimmer will be an IPO, a complete spinoff or something else, a spokesman said.
 "There are any number of options and we haven't made a formal final decision," said company spokesman Charles Borgognoni.
New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY: Research, Estimates) is the third biggest U.S. pharmaceutical firm after Pfizer Inc. (PFE: Research, Estimates) and Merck and Co. Inc. (MRK: Research, Estimates).
Zimmer is part of Bristol-Myers's medical devices group which also includes ConvaTec. Warsaw, Ind.-based Zimmer makes orthopedic products such as artificial hips and knees and fracture management products. The medical devices group had $1.7 billion in 1999 sales.
Shares for Bristol-Myers fell $1.59 to $60.91 Thursday, Pfizer fell by 5 cents to $44.76 and Merck dropped $1.93 to $76.78. 
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