GE Healthcare beefs up ultrasound business with $1.4B acquisition
GE Healthcare has agreed to acquire advanced surgical visualization firm BK Medical from Altaris Capital for $1.45 billion, the companies announced Thursday.
BK Medical, headquartered in both Boston and Copenhagen, Denmark, specializes in intraoperative imaging and surgical navigation to help doctors visualize inside a patient’s body in real time during surgery.
The all-cash agreement will bolster GE’s $3 billion ultrasound business and help the healthcare giant expand beyond pre-and post-operative diagnostic ultrasound.
“Ultrasound today forms an integral part of many care pathways, and BK Medical is a strategic and highly complementary addition to our growing and profitable ultrasound business,” GE Healthcare’s President and CEO Kieran Murphy said Sept. 23. “This transaction helps GE Healthcare continue to expand beyond diagnostics into surgical and therapeutic interventions, simplifying decision-making for clinicians and equipping them with greater insights to deliver faster, more personalized care for their patients—representing another step toward delivering precision health.”
GE said it expects BK Medical to deliver “rapid” revenue growth by expanding its margins and quickly growing free cash flow. It forecasts “high-single-digit” returns on its invested capital within five years.
The deal is expected to close in 2022, pending review by regulatory agencies.
“We are immensely proud of the organization and of the life-changing technology that we have built at BK Medical and look forward to our future as part of the GE Healthcare family,” Brooks West, president and CEO of BK, added. “Our mission to help surgeons make critical decisions using active imaging aligns well with GE Healthcare’s mission to help physicians make more informed decisions and improve patient outcomes, and we are eager to begin this new chapter.”
Read more about the agreement here.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.