The Howmedica group, which employs 450 people in Limerick and Shannon and manufactures orthopaedic and medical devices, has been sold for $1.9 billion £1.36 billion). The buyer is the Stryker Corporation, which announced earlier this year that it was setting up a £13.5 million project in Cork to make cutting accessories for power medical instruments.

The Howmedica business, which has several plants worldwide, was owned by Pfizer, which has been disposing of its medical devices businesses. In June Pfizer sold a plant it owned in Tullamore Co Offaly Scheider Namic to Boston Scientific, another US firm with substantial operations here. At that stage it indicated that it was considering Howmedica's future.

An IDA spokesman welcomed the sale last night, saying that it would be good for both Pfizer and Howmedica in the long term and would help both achieve their aims.

A spokesman for Pfizer told The Irish Times that the sale was part of its strategy to concentrate on it core pharmaceuticals business. It meant that the group had now fully divested its medical devices business.

The spokesman said the medical devices sector was a very competitive and fast moving one which needed accelerated investment. He said Pfizer had found a good "partner" in Stryker which had a strong reputation in that field. He added that the welfare of Howmedica employees had been a major consideration in the sale.

A spokesman for Stryker was unavailable, but industry sources believe there will be no threat to jobs. The medical devices sector is growing rapidly at present and Howmedica, for example, had sales of $820 million last year.

Howmedica was one of the first medical devices manufacturing projects to set up in Ireland in 1972. It has a manufacturing plant in Limerick and a small distribution operation in Shannon.

Sources said Stryker, which operates from a 12-acre site at Carrigtwohill in Co Cork, had signalled earlier this year that it had around $300 million to fund acquisitions. It is seen as one of the top suppliers of orthopaedic devices and manufacturers of power instrumentation for medical use.

Based in Kalamzoo, Michigan, it manufactures orthopaedic products and instruments for general surgery as well as other medical projects. It employs 5,000 people worldwide.

In a statement, Pfizer senior vice president and chief financial officer Mr David Shedlarz said Howmedica's employees had made a number of important contributions to Pfizer's success in servicing that clinical area over the past 26 years.

Pfizer has hit the headlines recently because of the success of its impotence drug Viagra, an ingredient of which is manufactured at its plant in Cork. It currently employs 320 people there and is planning an extension which could lead to an additional 100 jobs.