Medtronic €31bn deal will see it move HQ to Ireland

US medical device maker Medtronic Inc has said it agreed to buy Dublin-based Covidien Plc for $42.9bn (€31.6bn) and shift its executive headquarters to Ireland in the latest move by US firms to harvest lower corporate tax rates abroad.

While the cash and stock deal will allow Medtronic to reduce its overall global tax burden, the Minneapolis-based company said it was driven by a complementary strategy with Covidien on medical technology, rather than tax considerations.

“The real purpose of this, in the end, is strategic, both in the intermediate term and the long term,” Medtronic chief executive Omar Ishrak said after the deal was announced. “It is good for the US in that we will make more investment in US technologies, which previously we could not.”