OSI Systems to buy Spacelabs Medical from General Electric

General Electric Co. (GE) on Tuesday unveiled an agreement to sell patient monitoring and clinical information systems firm Spacelabs Medical to OSI Systems Inc. to comply with a requisite of GE's acquisition of Instrumentarium Corp.

OSI will pay GE $57 million in cash for Spacelabs Medical, based in Bothell, Wash. Spacelabs' revenues in 2003 are an estimated $150 million.

The companies say the transaction -- which must be cleared by the European Commission (EC) and the U.S. Department of Justice -- could close in "early 2004."

GE acquired Instrumentarium for $2.2 billion in October 2003 and made the Helsinki, Finland-based company part of GE Medical Systems (GEMS). GE agreed to divest Spacelabs to appease European and U.S. regulators were expressed antitrust concerns in the patient monitoring and clinical information systems markets, if GE were to keep Spacelabs.

OSI plans to operate Spacelabs as a wholly owned subsidiary; Richard Atkin will continue as president.

OSI has three business lines - medical, security and optoelectronic products. The medical business includes Osteometer MediTech, which develops, manufactures and markets bone densitometry technology for bone metabolic diseases, such as osteoporosis; and Dolphin Medical Inc., which specializes in patient monitors and accessories in pulse oximetry and respiratory gas analysis.

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