SEC Company Response from BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX) (CIK 0000885725) (BSX) — Dec 8, 2005
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP (BSX) (CIK 0000885725)
Date: Dec. 8, 2005 · CIK: 0000885725 · Accession: 0001072613-05-002847
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-11083
Referenced dates: November 16, 2005
Show Raw Text
CORRESP
1
filename1.htm
WWW.EXFILE.COM, INC. -- 14024 -- BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP. -- CORRESPONDENCE FILING
December
7, 2005
Mr.
Brian
Cascio
Accounting
Branch Chief
United
States Securities and Exchange Commission
100
F
Street, N.E.
Washington,
D.C. 20549-6010
Re:
Boston
Scientific Corporation
Form
10-K for Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2004
Filed
March 16, 2005
SEC
File No. 001-11083
Dear
Mr.
Cascio:
This
letter is in response to your letter dated November 16, 2005 regarding the
above
subject matter. For ease of reference, we have reproduced the Staff’s comments
below with our response and, as appropriate, proposed disclosure for inclusion
in future filings following each comment.
Form
10-K as of December 31, 2004
Item
8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, page
39
Note
D - Business Combinations, page 51
1.
We
note your acquisition of Advanced Bionics on June 1, 2004 and that
$397
million of the purchase price was allocated to goodwill. Please
tell us
and disclose in future filings the valuation methodologies and
significant
assumptions used to allocate the purchase price to the acquired
assets and
liabilities, including goodwill and intangible assets. Explain
the nature
of the core technology acquired. In addition, explain why such
a
significant portion of the purchase price was allocated to
goodwill.
As
described in the Valuation
of Business Combinations
section
of Note A to our financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2004,
we
allocate amounts paid for each acquisition to the assets acquired and
liabilities assumed based on their fair values at the dates of acquisition.
We
determine the fair value of the identifiable intangible assets primarily
by
using the income approach. We use the examples of intangible assets in Appendix
A of SFAS 141 as a minimum list of potential intangible assets to value for
each
of our acquisitions, including Advanced Bionics. We use the AICPA’s practice
aid, Assets
Acquired in a Business Combination to be Used in Research and
Development
Activities,
as
additional guidance to identify and account for purchased research and
development. We then allocate any excess purchase price over the fair values
of
the net tangible and intangible assets acquired to goodwill.
Under
SFAS 141, we recognize an intangible asset apart from goodwill if it arises
from
contractual or other legal rights. If an intangible asset does not arise
from
contractual or other legal rights, it is recognized as an asset apart from
goodwill only if it is separable. In the acquisition of Advanced
Bionics
on June 1, 2004, we identified core and developed technologies, purchased
research and development intangible assets, and customer relationships in
addition to goodwill. We engaged nationally-recognized independent appraisers
to
assist us in our identification and valuation procedures.
We
used
the income approach to establish the fair values of the identified
technology-based intangible assets in the acquisition of Advanced Bionics,
including core and developed technologies and purchased research and
development. Our revenue assumptions used in deriving the fair values were
based
on estimates of relevant market sizes, expected market growth rates, expected
market penetration rates, expected trends in technology, and expected
competitive offerings. Using these revenue assumptions, we estimated the
after-tax cash flows attributable to the identified technology-based intangible
assets over their expected useful lives and discounted the after-tax cash
flows
back to a present value using the following risk appropriate discount
rates:
Purchased research and
development:
18%-27%
Developed technology:
14%
Core technology:
17%-19%
The
purchased research and development of $50 million related to Advanced Bionics’
micro-stimulator project and programmable drug pump project, which were
in-process as of the date of acquisition. The micro-stimulator is an implantable
neurostimulation device designed to treat a variety of neurological conditions,
including migraine headaches, urge incontinence, epilepsy and sleep
apnea. The drug delivery pump is an implanted programmable device
designed
to treat chronic pain.
The
developed technology ($26 million at December 31, 2005) related to Advanced
Bionics’ auditory and pain management technologies, which had both received FDA
approval as of the acquisition date. The auditory technology consists of
a
multichannel cochlear implant and an external sound processor that is capable
of
restoring the human sense of sound. The pain management technology consists
of a
spinal cord stimulation system for the treatment of chronic peripheral pain
of
the lower back and legs. This system has implanted parts and external parts,
including an implantable pulse generator, leads, advanced electronics and
a
rechargeable battery. We determined that the estimated useful life of the
developed technology was 5 years given the nature of microelectronic devices
and
the relatively rapid iteration of future generations of such technology.
The
core
technology ($325 million at December 31, 2005) consists of patented and
unpatented fundamental neuromodulation platforms for auditory technologies
and
pain management that primarily consist of microelectronics and software
algorithms. This core technology represents the common platform or the common
parts within each of the acquired implantable microelectronic device
technologies that will be carried over in future iterations of the product.
Therefore, we determined that the estimated useful life of the core technology
was 20 years.
We
used
the cost method approach to determine the fair value of the customer
relationship intangible asset, which approximated $10 million. We determined
the
fair value of the customer relationship asset by estimating the annual sales
cost to obtain and maintain customers (e.g. hospitals, clinics and medical
practitioners) over the estimated number of years to obtain a customer base
equivalent to Advanced Bionics’ existing customer
base.
A
significant excess of cost remained after allocating the purchase price to
the
net tangible and intangible assets, which we allocated to goodwill. This
significant amount of excess was attributable to the low level of net tangible
assets acquired, the early stage of development of the acquired in-process
technologies and the relatively short product life cycles of the developed
technologies. We expected much of the value of the acquisition to be driven
by
future growth of the neuromodulation markets and future technological
developments impacting future product offerings. In addition, we believe
that
the goodwill encompasses the value associated with Advanced Bionics’
highly-technical and specialized assembled workforce, including the senior
management team that remained with Advanced Bionics post-acquisition; the
value
of synergies associated with the acquisition given our resources, including
our
operational and global sales and marketing expertise; and the strategic benefit
we expect to derive from Advanced Bionics by expanding our reach into the
rapidly growing implantable microelectronic device market.
We
propose the following enhanced disclosure to be used in our 2005 Form
10-K:
On
June 1, 2004, the Company completed its acquisition of 100 percent
of
the fully diluted equity of Advanced Bionics for an initial payment of
approximately $740 million in cash, plus possible future earn-out
payments.
The initial purchase price was primarily funded by the issuance of commercial
paper. Advanced Bionics develops implantable microelectronic technologies
for
treating numerous neurological disorders. Its neuromodulation technology
includes a range of neurostimulators (or implantable pulse generators),
programmable drug pumps and cochlear implants. At the acquisition date, Advanced
Bionics had received FDA approval for certain auditory and pain management
technologies. The auditory technology consists of a multichannel cochlear
implant and an external sound processor that is capable of restoring the
human
sense of sound. The pain management technology consists of a spinal cord
stimulation system for the treatment of chronic peripheral pain of the lower
back and legs. In addition, Advanced Bionics had two significant projects
in-process at the time of acquisition, including the bion microstimulator
and
the drug delivery pump. The bion microstimulator is an implantable
neurostimulation device designed to treat a variety of neurological conditions,
including migraine headaches, urge incontinence, epilepsy and sleep apnea.
The
drug delivery pump is an implanted programmable device designed to treat
chronic
pain. See the Purchased Research and Development section of this footnote
for
details on these two in-process projects. The Advanced Bionics acquisition
was
intended to expand the Company’s technology portfolio into the implantable
microelectronic device market.
The
Advanced Bionics acquisition was structured to include earn-out payments
that
are primarily contingent on the achievement of future performance milestones.
The performance milestones are segmented by Advanced Bionics’ four principal
technology platforms (cochlear implants, implantable pulse generators, drug
pumps and bion® microstimulators) and each milestone has a specific earn-out
period, which generally commences on the date of the related product launch.
Base earn-out payments on these performance milestones approximate
two-and-a-quarter times incremental sales for each annual period. There are
also
bonus earn-out payments available based on the attainment of certain aggregate
sales performance targets and a certain gross margin level. The milestones
associated with the contingent consideration must be reached in certain periods
ranging from 2005 through 2013. The estimated maximum potential amount of
future
contingent consideration (undiscounted) that the Company could be
required
to make associated with its acquisition of Advanced Bionics is approximately
$2.6 billion. The estimated cumulative revenue level
(undiscounted) associated with these maximum future contingent payments
is
approximately $5.8 billion during the period from 2005 through 2013.
The
Company will allocate these payments, if made, to goodwill.
Fair
values of tangible assets and liabilities obtained in conjunction with the
acquisition of Advanced Bionics were as follows:
(in
millions)
Assets
$64
Liabilities
$35
Net
Tangible Assets
$29
The
Company allocated the excess of purchase price over the fair value of net
tangible assets acquired to specific intangible asset categories as follows:
(in
millions)
Amount
Assigned
Weighted
Average
Amortization
Period
Risk-Adjusted
Discount
Rate
Used
in Purchase
Price
Allocation
Amortizable
Intangible Assets
Technology
- core
$325
20
years
17%-19%
Technology
- developed
26
5
years
14%
Other
10
15
years
*
$361
19
years
Unamortizable
Intangible Assets
Goodwill
$397
Purchased
Research and Development
$50
18%-27%
*
The
Company used the cost replacement method to value the customer relationship
asset obtained in conjunction with the acquisition of Advanced Bionics.
The
Advanced Bionics developed technology consists of auditory and pain management
technologies that had received FDA approval as of the acquisition date. The
Company determined that the estimated useful life of the developed technology
was 5 years given the nature of microelectronic devices and the relatively
rapid
iteration of future generations of such technology.
The
core technology consists of patented and unpatented fundamental neuromodulation
platforms for auditory and pain management technologies. This core technology
represents the common platform or the common parts within each of the acquired
implantable microelectronic device technologies that will be carried over
in
future iterations of the product. Therefore, the Company determined that
the
estimated useful life of the core technology was 20 years.
A
significant excess of cost remained after allocating the purchase price to
the
net tangible and intangible assets, which we allocated to goodwill. This
significant amount of excess was attributable to the low level of net tangible
assets acquired, the early stage of development of the acquired in-process
technologies and the relatively short product life cycles of the developed
technologies. The