3M has finished carving out its healthcare business, formally establishing Solventum as an independent, St. Paul, Minnesota-based manufacturer of a medtech catalog that brought in $8.2 billion in 2023 sales.
The new company and its about 22,000 employees span four divisions: medical surgical tools, health IT platforms and dental solutions as well as purification and filtration hardware.
More than half of Solventum’s revenues will come from devices for advanced wound care and preventing infections in the treatment of more than 1.6 million cases annually—including negative pressure therapies, dressings and sterilizers as well as surgical drapes, electrodes and disposable wraps in addition to the long-running Littmann stethoscope brand.
“Today Solventum marks our first day as a publicly traded company and dedicated global healthcare leader,” CEO Bryan Hanson said in a statement. “We're a new company with a long legacy of creating breakthrough solutions that solve our customers' toughest challenges.”
Solventum’s share price dropped slightly after its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, down about 4% Tuesday morning to around $66.50 apiece following its Monday debut at $69.15. Hanson, formerly CEO of Zimmer Biomet, and other members of Solventum’s leadership are scheduled to ring the NYSE’s opening bell Wednesday, April 3.
3M has retained a 19.9% stake in Solventum at the outset but said it plans to sell off those shares within the next five years. Holders of 3M common stock, meanwhile, received one share of Solventum for every four shares they held of 3M.
Solventum’s portfolio had previously spent decades under its conglomerate parent—with the company estimating that its products have been used in north of 2 billion dental restoration procedures worldwide, while its software is already employed in more than 75% of U.S. hospitals. Elsewhere, it has pegged the use of its membrane technologies in more than 25 million dialysis treatments per year.
During its first investor day presentation last month, Solventum forecast that its revenue for its 2024 fiscal year would either remain flat or drop by at most 2% while it deals with temporary disruptions during the spinout transition and works to set up its global infrastructure, as the company expects about 44% of sales to come from outside the U.S.
Priorities for Solventum’s first two years will be to pay down its debt, followed by capital investments and the pursuit of bolt-on acquisitions.