The board of directors of Covidien has approved the company's spin-off of its Pharmaceuticals business into an independent company named Mallinckrodt.
All Covidien shareholders will receive one Mallinckrodt share for every eight shares of Covidien they own. Covidien said it expects the distribution to occur on June 28. After the distribution, Mallinckrodt will be an independent, publicly traded company under the ticker symbol MNK, and Covidien will retain no ownership interest in Mallinckrodt.
The spin-off is a back-to-the-future moment for Mallinckrodt, which operated as an independent company for years until it was bought by Tyco Healthcare in 2001. Tyco in 2007 spun off the healthcare business under the name Covidien.
