Integra Lifesciences M&A Unlikely Until 2011, Citigroup Reports

Integra Lifesciences Holdings IART management has not undertaken a deal in over a year, and even though a transaction in Ortho or Instruments would make sense, Citigroup said that it does not expect IART to execute a deal until sometime in 2011. “Deals that were expected to take place in 2010 ran into due diligence issues (most likely in the Ortho space) and as we look forward, we expect management to maintain its fiscal discipline/conservatism,” Citigroup writes. “We would not be surprised if an Instrument deal took place in the 5-6x EBITDA range (given slower growth profiles), but IART would likely pay up to 2.5x revs for faster growth companies.” Integra Lifesciences currently trades at $43.24.