Sorin S.p.A., a Milan, Italy-based global medical device company and a leader in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, and Houston-based Cyberonics Inc., a medical device company with core expertise in neuromodulation, have announced their merger plan to create a new global leader in medical technologies with a combined equity value of approximately $2.7 billion (€2.4 billion) based on the closing price of Sorin and Cyberonics shares on February 25, 2015. Latham & Watkins LLP advised Sorin on the cross border transaction with a corporate team led by New York partner Adel Aslani-Far and Silicon Valley partner Luke Bergstrom, Milan partner Maria Cristina Storchi, and London partner Richard Butterwick, together with Silicon Valley associates Mark Bekheit and John Harrison, Italian counsel Gaia Guizzetti and Italian associate Guido Bartolomei, as well as London associate Hyo Joo Kim; Chicago partner Roderick Branch and London partner Claire Keast-Butler on capital markets matters; and Los Angeles partner Laurence Stein and Washington, D.C. partner Nicholas J. DeNovio, with associate Nicolle Nonken Gibbs, on tax; and New York partner Bradd Williamson on employee benefits.