Smith & Nephew claw back money from Plus Orthopedics buyout

Medical equipment maker Smith & Nephew said yesterday that it has clawed back some the money it spent on the buyout of Plus Orthopedics in 2007 after finding what it said were unacceptable sales problems at the Swiss group.

The FTSE 100 company will get back $141m, cutting the purchase price from the $889m and in exchange will release the vendors from substantially all of their warranties. In May last year, Smith & Nephew said it had uncovered irregular sales practices that a number of analysts said should have been uncovered during the due diligence. The group’s stock closed down 7.25p last night at 479.75p.