On February 26, 2015, Sorin Group announced that it will merge with fellow medical devices maker Cyberonics to form a new UK-based company called LivaNova.
It was founded in 1956 by Fiat and Montedison, Italy's two largest industrial groups at that time, to tackle the problems inherent in the production of nuclear energy.
When the nuclear power industry was hit by a crisis caused by the nationalization of the electric utilities, the Company switched businesses, focusing on technologies related to medicine, and changed its name to Sorin Biomedica (Fiat Group).
With these acquisitions, Sorin Biomedica established itself as an international player with a leadership position in Europe and a global distribution network, with an especially effective presence in the highly profitable Japanese market.
In 1996, the Group launched an internal project to develop a coronary angioplasty product line (catheters and stents).
In May 1999, Snia bought Cobe Cardiovascular, a company based in Denver, Colorado, that was its main competitor in the cardiac surgery market.
The acquisition of Ela Medical, a company with production facilities in Paris, France, strengthened the Group's position in the cardiac rhythm management market (pacemakers and implantable defibrillators).
In April 2002, the Snia Group acquired from Dialinvest S.A. control of Soludia, a French company specializing in the manufacture of dialysis solutions, thereby strengthening the product portfolio and European presence of the Renal Care Business Unit.