Shares of makers of hip and knee replacements, Smith & Nephew Plc saw a rise which was highest in the last six years. The price rise was propelled by rumors that it had refused a 7 billion-pound ($10.9 billion) takeover offer made by Johnson & Johnson.

The offer was said to have been made somewhere close to Christmas. No comments on the same were made by David Illingworth, Smith & Nephew's chief executive officer. He, however, did comment on an occasion where he did say that such speculations had been going in for the last 10 years.

In a reactionary move, the Smith & Nephew got several calls from the shareholders. While some wanted to check on if the news was correct the others wanted to tell them to accept the offer.

Meanwhile, Illingworth has said that the orthopedic industry is going in for a consolidation process and that Smith & Nephew is also going to go ahead with some of the takeovers. But, this kind of process is going to raise the antitrust issues.

That being the case, J&J will have to divest its assets so that it can avoid these issues in the US.