BY Richard Summerfield
GE Healthcare has agreed to acquire BK Medical from Altaris Capital Partners in an all-cash purchase worth $1.45bn.
The transaction, which is expected to close in 2022, subject to review by the relevant regulatory authorities, will strengthen GE’s $3bn ultrasound business and help the company expand beyond pre-and post-operative diagnostic ultrasound.
GE 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.
BK Medical, which has operated for 40 years in the imaging space, has a global installed base of more than 14,000 ultrasound platforms.
“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,” said Kieran Murphy, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare. “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.”
“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,” said Brooks West, president and chief executive of BK Medical. “Combining our expertise in intraoperative imaging and surgical navigation with GE Healthcare’s many strengths and global presence will accelerate our mission to change the standard of care in surgical interventions. 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.”
“Adding the fast-growing and relatively new field of real-time surgical visualization to GE’s pre- and post-operative Ultrasound capabilities will create an end-to-end offering through the full continuum of care—from diagnosis through therapy and beyond,” said Roland Rott, president and chief executive of GE Healthcare Ultrasound. “GE Healthcare and BK Medical share a passion for clinical innovation, and I’m excited to welcome BK Medical to our team.”
News: GE Healthcare to Acquire BK Medical, Expanding Ultrasound Portfolio into Surgical Visualization