EXHIBIT 99.1


     Contacts:     Paul Vetter           Peter Gove         Steve Wilson
                   Investor Relations    Media Relations    V.P. Finance & CFO
                   (612) 481-7791        (612) 481-7790     (612) 481-7542

Pacific Dunlop contacts:                 Rod Chadwick       Martin Hudson
                                         011-613-92707150   011-613-92707102

Telectronics contact:                    Larry Wettlaufer
                                         (303) 799-2460


                ST. JUDE MEDICAL TO ACQUIRE TELECTRONICS, MEDTEL
                         AND SETTLE INTERMEDICS DISPUTE

St. Paul, Minnesota, October 23, 1996 - - St. Jude Medical, Inc.
(NASDAQ/NNM:STJM) announced today it has signed definitive agreements (1) to
acquire from Telectronics Pacing Systems, Inc. of Englewood, Colorado, a wholly
owned subsidiary of Pacific Dunlop, Ltd., substantially all of its cardiac
rhythm management (CRM) assets; (2) to acquire Medtel, an Asia-Pacific medical
products distribution business which is also related to Pacific Dunlop; and (3)
to acquire certain intellectual property rights from Intermedics, Inc., a
Freeport, Texas unit of SulzerMedica, Inc. and settle disputes between
Intermedics and Ventritex, Inc. All are cash transactions. The Intermedics
agreement facilitates the acquisition by St. Jude Medical of Telectronics and
Ventritex, Inc., which was also announced today.

St. Jude Medical will pay $135 million in cash for the assets of Telectronics
and Medtel and $25 million for the Intermedics agreement, for a total of $160
million. The Telectronics agreement also includes an earnout provision tied to
future pacing sales which could result in additional payments of up to $40
million over six years if certain revenue milestones are achieved. The
Telectronics transaction is subject to government review and is expected to
close late this year.

Among the assets St. Jude Medical is acquiring from Telectronics are extensive
intellectual property assets, important patent cross-licensing agreements,
advanced bradycardia technology and global sales and marketing presence.

Liability for all Telectronics products manufactured or sold prior to the
closing of the transaction will not pass to St. Jude Medical. This includes all
liability related to its Accufix(TM) pacemaker leads. Telectronics has opened
the Accufix Research Institute in Englewood, Colorado, to deal with all matters
related to these lead products. St. Jude Medical will not manufacture these lead
products nor have any role in the management of the Accufix Research Institute.

The Intermedics agreement provides that upon the completion of St. Jude
Medical's acquisition of Telectronics, Pacesetter, a St. Jude Medical subsidiary
and Telectronics will provide a royalty-free patent license to Intermedics for
cardiac stimulation devices. Intermedics will provide Pacesetter and
Telectronics with a royalty-free patent license for cardiac stimulation devices.
In addition, Pacesetter will grant Intermedics a sublicense under Pacesetter's
patent license agreement with Angeion, Inc., which will provide Intermedics with
a license to certain Angeion patents.

Upon completion of St. Jude Medical's planned acquisition of Ventritex, the
agreement provides that Ventritex patents will be included in Pacesetter's
license to Intermedics and Intermedics' patent license to Pacesetter will also
apply to Ventritex products. In addition, all legal actions pending between
Intermedics and Ventritex as well as between Intermedics and Pacesetter will be
settled.

Commenting on the agreements, Ronald A. Matricaria, St. Jude Medical Chairman,
President and CEO, said, "We are making the Telectronics acquisition because of
our high regard for Telectronics' extensive intellectual property portfolio;
history of technological innovation, including minute ventilation sensor
technology and automatic mode switching; and experienced sales organization.
Despite a difficult challenge with certain pacemaker leads over the past two
years, Telectronics has a well deserved reputation for innovation and customer
support. We will move immediately upon completion of the transaction to
implement a comprehensive plan that takes advantage of the strengths of both
organizations to realize the significant synergies available from this business
combination.

"The Medtel distribution transaction is an investment in our Asia-Pacific
infrastructure and will assist us in achieving a long-standing strategic
objective of significantly expanding our direct sales and marketing presence in
that region of the world," Matricaria added.

"The patent cross-license and litigation settlement among Pacesetter,
Intermedics and Ventritex resolves issues which have consumed significant
amounts of management time and financial resources for all of these companies.
With this settlement in hand, St. Jude Medical will be able to focus its efforts
going forward on effectively integrating these businesses and expanding our
participation in the worldwide cardiac rhythm management business," Matricaria
concluded.

St. Jude Medical, Inc. (www.sjm.com) develops, manufactures and distributes
medical devices for the global cardiovascular market. The Company serves
patients and its physician customers worldwide with the highest quality products
and services including heart valves, cardiac rhythm management systems,
specialty catheters and other cardiovascular devices.