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Bristol spins off Zimmer
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July 5, 2001: 6:59 p.m. ET
Orthopedics unit of No. 3 U.S. drugmaker to begin trading on the NYSE Aug. 7
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Bristol-Meyers Squibb Co., the No. 3 U.S. drugmaker, set Thursday a special stock dividend for all outstanding shares of its orthopedics unit, Zimmer Holdings, that is being spun off.
The special stock dividend is expected to be payable on Aug. 6 to holders of Bristol-Meyers stock of record as of July 27. Bristol-Meyers holders will get one Zimmer share for every 10 shares of Bristol-Meyers, the company said.
The distribution of Zimmer shares on Aug. 6 will mark the completion of Zimmer's spinoff from Bristol-Meyers. Zimmer is expected to begin trading on Aug. 7 on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ZMH."
In February, Bristol-Meyers (BMY: down $0.46 to $53.19, Research, Estimates) announced plans to spin off the company by the end of third quarter through a tax-free distribution to shareholders. However, the drugmaker had not determined whether Zimmer would be an initial public offering, a complete spinoff, or something else.
New York-based Bristol-Meyers is the third-biggest U.S. pharmaceutical firm after Pfizer Inc. (PFE: down $0.68 to $39.76, Research, Estimates) and Merck and Co. Inc. (MRK: down $0.56 to $64.14, Research, Estimates).
Zimmer's will begin trading on the Big Board as part of the spinoff and not as an initial public offering.
The actual number of Zimmer shares to be distributed will be based on the number of Bristol-Myers stock outstanding on July 27, the company said. As of June 29, Bristol-Myers had about 1.9 billion shares of common stock outstanding. 
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