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<span class="artsectiontitle">Associated Press</span> <br /><span class="mainarttitle"><span class="mainarttitle">Update 8: GE to Buy IDX in $1.2 Billion Deal</span> <br /></span><span class="mainartdate">09.29.2005, 09:31 PM</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">General Electric Co. said Thursday that its health care unit would buy IDX Systems Corp., which produces software for hospitals and doctors' offices, in a deal the companies valued at $1.2 billion.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Executives of both companies described the deal at a news conference as an ideal fit to take advantage in the rapidly expanding field of information health technology for health care.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">"GE and IDX have just doubled the spectrum of our product line," said IDX CEO Jim Crook.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Shareholders of South Burlington-based IDX are to get $44 a share in cash, representing a 25 percent premium over the stock's closing price on Wednesday. IDX shares soared $8.08, or 23 percent, to close at $43.25 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while shares of GE rose 16 cents to close at $33.65 on the New York Stock Exchange.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Separately, Chinese media reported that GE plans to buy a 7 percent stake in China's Shenzhen Development Bank. The deal, valued at $100 million, would give GE Consumer Finance a foothold in the growing personal loan market in China.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">The two sides held a signing ceremony for the deal at Beijing's International Club on Wednesday, with an official announcement expected once relevant government departments approve the deal, the state-run China Securities Journal and other newspapers reported.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">GE said the IDX acquisition would significantly its health care offerings and aid in its drive to accelerate the transition to electronic health records. IDX's administrative, clinical and imaging products will complement GE's Centricity-brand applications, the company said.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">"GE and IDX have a shared vision on how to accelerate the adoption of electronic health records across the globe," Joe Hogan, president and CEO of GE Healthcare, said in a statement.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">GE already has a strong business in medical imaging - the digital images from hospital cardiology and radiology departments, for example. IDX's strengths lie in electronic medical record keeping and billing.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">"What's fantastic about this marriage is the two product sets are incredibly complementary," said Vishal Wanchoo, CEO of GE Healthcare Information Technologies, the GE division with which IDX will become affiliated.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">IDX was founded in 1969 as Burlington Data Processing, which conducted payroll, billing, and accounting functions. It entered the physician billing market a year later. Burlington Data Processing merged with Interpretive Data Systems in 1978 and assumed the IDS name. The name was changed to IDX in 1989.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">"IDX has grown substantially in recent years and we believe our opportunities for continued growth and expansion will be best realized through the additional scale and resources that a company like GE can provide," said earlier. "As part of GE Healthcare, we believe we will be able to capitalize more fully on the rapidly expanding opportunities in the healthcare (Internet technology) industry worldwide to fulfill our mission to make a difference in health care."</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Crook said IDX sought merger partners to help it expand worldwide more effectively. He declined to say what other companies IDX approached.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Its computer software now serves 150,000 physicians and is in use at more than 3,400 offices. Those include 850 group practices and 370 delivery networks serving more than 500 hospitals.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">Although it fell on some difficult financial times in the late 1990s, posting several quarters of losses and laying off hundreds in 2000 and 2001, IDX turned its business around. It reported sales of $520.7 million and a profit of $31.7 million for 2004.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">By contrast, GE Healthcare, based in England, accounts for $15 billion of its parent company's annual revenue and employs more than 43,000 people. It makes products and offers services ranging from life support systems to drug research.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">IDX employs 2,400 people in offices in South Burlington, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Louisville, Ky., San Diego, Seattle, Winston-Salem, N.C., and London. Its South Burlington headquarters IDX employs 850.</span> <br /><br /><span class="mainarttxt">GE and IDX said they expected the deal to close by early 2006, assuming approval by IDX shareholders and regulators. IDX holders owning about 20 percent of the company's shares have agreed to vote in favor of the buyout and both companies' boards have approved the deal.</span> |
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发表于 2005-9-30 11:09:17
发表于 2005-10-8 00:06:17
发表于 2005-10-8 01:12:56