Making good on plans it announced last December, Belgium-based Agfa-Gevaert has completed the sale of a major part of its healthcare IT business. As expected, the buyer is the Florence, Italy-based Dedalus Group. The sale price is 975 million euros (around $1.07 billion USD).
In a May 5 announcement, Agfa says the part it has sold includes an EHR platform; “integrated care activities” in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Brazil; and imaging IT activities “to the extent that these activities are tightly integrated into the Healthcare Information Solutions activities in these geographies.”
Pascal Juéry, president and CEO of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, adds that the sale represents “a major step in our transformation process. Given the uncertainty of the current economic context, at this point in time we choose to use the proceeds of the sale to secure the future of our company, to further execute the strategies of our divisions and to address long-term liabilities.”
In a separate announcement posted by Dedalus, the buyer says it is now “the largest company in the sector,” serving 5,000 hospitals, 5,000 laboratories and more than 2 million healthcare workers.
Dedalus Group chairman Giorgio Moretti expresses pride over the deal going through despite the challenges COVID-19 has posed to Italy’s people, healthcare system and economy.
“Today marks the end of a long path that Dedalus started in 2006, first consolidating the clinical-healthcare software sector in Italy, then in France and today at [the] European level,” he says. “I am really proud of Dedalus as an Italian company which has been able to promote the birth of what was indispensable for the European market: a champion in the sector able to compete globally.”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.