Baxter International Inc. (BAX) recently announced its intention of acquiring the Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) business from Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (EW). The deal involves an initial cash payment of roughly $56 million and an additional payment of up to $9 million over the next two years based on achievement of certain milestones revenue. The acquisition is expected to close in Q309 and will have no impact on Baxter's financial results for fiscal 2009.

CRRT, also known as hemofiltration, is a process of continuous and adjustable removal of excess fluid and waste products resulting from malfunction of the kidney. CRRT duplicates the function of a kidney for 24 hours. Baxter is presently supplying solutions that are used in CRRT treatment globally and is the lone distributor of Edwards' product in the U.S., Latin America and China.

Baxter is a global medical products and services company with

A fascinating discussion a few weeks ago in welling@weeden with Albert Edwards and James Montier of Société Générale is republished below with the necessary permission.

“In the cacophony that is global investment strategy research, Albert Edwards (below left) and James Montier (right) stand out as clearly distinctive voices. And not merely because of their British accents or because they’ve tended to the decidedly bearish side of the scale over the last decade or so.

“Despite long tenure in the rarified top echelons of the investment banking world, for many years with Dresdner Kleinwort and more recently at Société Générale (where they are co-heads of global cross asset strategy) both have managed to retain a natural plain-spoken bluntness.

“Also