Everything ties back to Bard... From CONMED's History:
As CONMED’s business grew, so did its product line. CONMED expanded into the electrosurgery market with a line of disposable grounding pads and pencils. In 1987, the company went public issuing approximately 4 million shares. In 1989, CONMED completed its first major acquisition. It purchased Aspen Labs from Bristol Myers Squibb with this transaction making the company a very strong competitor in the electrosurgery market. In the 1990’s, CONMED acquired several competitive companies that were producing ECG electrodes and electrosurgery products. In 1997, CONMED completed the acquisition of Linvatec, which made the company the number two worldwide producer of arthroscopy products and orthopaedic powered surgical instruments. In 2004, CONMED acquired the majority of the Endoscopic Technologies business from C.R. Bard accelerating its penetration into the Gastroenerology and Pulmonology markets.
They can't use the excuse of not having enough money or enough experienced sales resources anymore with this acquistion and we'll see how things work out... It might be interesting to call some of the current distributors for Viking to see how they feel about this...
