GE Healthcare to acquire IDX Systems Corporation
29 September 2005
Chalfont St Giles, UK and Burlington, VT, USA. GE Healthcare is
taking over IDX Systems Corporation, a leading US healthcare information
technology provider. The merger of the two companies will create a leading
healthcare IT vendor, offering one of the most comprehensive suites of
clinical, imaging and administrative information systems.
Pursuant to the transaction, IDX shareholders will receive $44 per share
payable in cash in the merger, for a total consideration of approximately
$1.2 billion, net of IDX cash and equivalents.
“GE and IDX have a shared vision on how to accelerate the adoption of
electronic health records across the globe,” said Joe Hogan, president and
CEO of GE Healthcare. “We are extremely excited about joining with IDX and
believe that our combined offerings are in line with where healthcare is
headed and match the needs of our customers.”
“IDX has grown substantially in recent years and we believe our
opportunities for continued growth and expansion will be best realised
through the additional scale and resources that a company like GE can
provide,” said Jim Crook, Chief Executive Officer of IDX. “As part of GE
Healthcare, we believe we will be able to capitalize more fully on the
rapidly expanding opportunities in the healthcare IT industry worldwide to
fulfill our mission to make a difference in healthcare.”
According to Vishal Wanchoo, President and CEO of GE Healthcare
Information Technologies, “IDX’s administrative, clinical and imaging
information systems complement GE’s rich clinically-focused Centricity
information technology offerings. Together, we will be able to offer a
comprehensive set of solutions meeting almost every need a hospital, clinic
or doctor’s office has, allowing them to deliver the best quality of
healthcare possible to their patients, and to manage their businesses
optimally. GE Healthcare will help accelerate IDX’s current solution
development and deployment projects, which will benefit IDX customers and
provide enhanced opportunities for IDX employees.“
The transaction, which is subject to IDX shareholder and regulatory
approvals, and other customary conditions, is expected to close by early
2006. In connection with the transaction, certain shareholders representing
approximately 20% of the IDX shares outstanding have agreed, among other
things, to vote their shares in favour of the proposed transaction. The
Boards of Directors of GE and IDX have approved the transaction.
GE Healthcare is a $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:
GE), headquartered in the UK, and employs 43,000 people in 100 countries.
IDX has 2400 employees and has systems installed in over 3400 customer
sites. It had revenues for the six-month period ending June 30, 2005 of
$289.8 million, up from $232.9 million for the same period in 2004.
Its operations in England are facing problems. IDX was a subcontractor to
Fujitsu Services, the local service provider for the English National
Programme for IT (NPfIT) in the Southern Region of the programme. However,
it faced serious difficulties in adapting its Carecast product to the
requirements of the English NHS. On 1 June, 2005 IDX announced that its
contract with Fujitsu Services for the Southern Region had been terminated
and an anticipated resulting pretax charge for the loss on the contract of
between $2.0 million and $4.0 million in the second quarter. It remains a
supplier in the London Region, where the local service provider for NPfIT is
the BT-led Capital Care Alliance. IDX recently moved development of Carecast
for the NHS in London from the US to London, to overcome the problems of its
US programmers in understanding the needs of the English NHS.
To top |
|