A Medical Device Daily

The Getinge Group 's (Stockholm, Sweden) Medical Systems business has concluded an agreement to acquire 60% of the shares in the German company OTY for a purchase price of about SEK 44 million (roughly $6.12 million).The agreement also includes an option to acquire the remaining shares at a future point in time.

OTY is a telemedicine company that specializes in products and solutions for the IT infrastructure of hospitals, with a focus on the operating theatre.

The company has developed hardware and software that enable the integration of various electronic data systems in the operation theatre, potentially increasing the efficiency of the communication and visibility of patient data.

For some time, Getinge Medical Systems has been cooperating with OTY in several markets. The market for telemedicine products focusing on the operation theatre has expanded rapidly in recent years and is expected to show continued favorable growth. Tele-medicine has become an increasingly important instrument in healthcare, ensuring that medical data is made simply available and serving as a basis for decisions, while simplifying documentation for future reference and teaching.

OTY has annual sales of about SEK 20 million, with 14 employees. The company's assets amount to roughly SEK 8.7 million and its liabilities to SEK 6.4 million at the time of acquisition.

OTY will be incorporated in the Getinge Group in September, and the company estimates that its addition will make a modest contribution to pre-tax profit during the current year.

HCA (Nashville, Tennessee) reported that the Federal Trade Commission has granted early termination of the antitrust waiting period, in connection with the company's pending $33 billion acquisition by a consortium of private equity investment firms (Medical Device Daily, July 25, 2006).

The acquiring consortium includes affiliates of Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity and HCA founder Dr. Thomas Frist, Jr.

The transaction is expected to close in 4Q06.

HCA's affiliates are owner/operators of 176 hospitals, 92 freestanding surgery centers and facilities, and they also are partners in joint ventures that own and operate seven hospitals and seven freestanding surgery centers. The company's facilities are located in 21 states in the U.S., England and Switzerland.