GE to Acquire Amersham for $9.5 Billion

Immediately following the closing of its Instrumentarium acquisition, the General Electric Company (Waukesha, WI, USA) has agreed to buy Amersham plc (Little Chalfont, UK) for US$9.5 billion in stock.

Upon completion of the acquisition, Sir William Castell, CEO of Amersham, will become vice chairman and member of the board of General Electric. He will also become CEO of the combined GE and Amersham medical businesses, to be called GE Healthcare Technologies, which will be based in the United Kingdom. Joseph Hogan, senior vice president of General Electric, will continue to lead the GE medical business.

Amersham Health (Little Chalfont, UK) is a global leader in diagnostic imaging agents, while Amersham Biosciences (Piscataway, NJ, USA) performs protein separations and develops instruments and software for research. Both segments are designed to advance GE's strategy of addressing high-growth segments of the healthcare industry. Amersham was formed in 1997 by the mergers of Amersham International (UK), Pharmacia Biotech (Sweden), and Nycomed (Norway). By adding these high-technology platforms to its diagnostic imaging, healthcare services, and information technology businesses, GE hopes to position the company to participate in new developments in molecular imaging and personalized medicine.

"GE and Amersham will be an exciting combination of talents, businesses, and technologies,” said Jeffrey R. Immelt, chairman and CEO of GE. "Amersham's diagnostic pharmaceutical and life sciences business will add new, high-growth platforms to GE Medical's diagnostic imaging, services, and healthcare information technology businesses.”




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