By Anjie Zheng
Royal Philips said Wednesday it will buy Volcano Corp. for a
total of $1.2 billion, including all of Volcano's equity as well as
its cash and debt. The 1,800 employees of Volcano will become part
of a new image-guided therapy group within Philips.
According to a statement released by both parties, Volcano is a
market leader in making flexible tubes that can produce ultrasound
images of blood vessels as well as consoles to measure blood flow.
Its broad range of products aims to treat cardiovascular diseases
in less invasive ways. Based in San Diego, California, it had sales
of US$400 million in 2013.
Volcano's strength in tools bolsters Philips' presence in
imaging therapy, an area it has sought to expand into over the past
few years. One-third of all interventional X-ray systems sold in
the world are Philips models.
Philips' CEO Frans van Houten describes Volcano's products as
"highly complementary to our strong offering in live image-guidance
solutions," adding that the merger will create "an opportunity to
accelerate the revenue growth for our image-guided therapy
business."
The image-therapy market is worth roughly 4 billion euros.
Write to Anjie Zheng at anjie.zheng@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Royal Philips NV
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=NL0000009538
Access Investor Kit for Royal Philips NV
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US5004723038
Access Investor Kit for Volcano Corp.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US9286451003
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires