GE Healthcare agrees to acquire BK Medical for $1.45bn

GE Healthcare has entered into an agreement to acquire BK Medical, a specialist in advanced surgical visualisation, from Altaris Capital Partners for a cash purchase price of $1.45 billion. 

BK Medical is an innovator in global intraoperative imaging and surgical navigation, used to guide clinicians during minimally invasive and robotic surgeries and to visualise deep tissue during procedures in neuro and abdominal surgery, and in ultrasound urology. BK Medical is headquartered in Boston and Copenhagen with more than 650 employees.

GE Healthcare president and CEO Kieran Murphy said: “Ultrasound today forms an integral part of many care pathways, and BK Medical is a strategic and highly complementary addition to our growing and profitable Ultrasound business. This transaction helps GE Healthcare continue to expand beyond diagnostics into surgical and therapeutic interventions, simplifying decision-making for clinicians and equipping them with greater insights to deliver faster, more personalised care for their patients—representing another step toward delivering precision health.”

BK Medical president and CEO Brooks West added: “We are immensely proud of the organisation and of the life-changing technology that we have built at BK Medical and look forward to our future as part of the GE Healthcare family. Combining our expertise in intraoperative imaging and surgical navigation with GE Healthcare’s many strengths and global presence will accelerate our mission to change the standard of care in surgical interventions. Our mission to help surgeons make critical decisions using active imaging aligns well with GE Healthcare’s mission to help physicians make more informed decisions and improve patient outcomes, and we are eager to begin this new chapter.”

GE Healthcare Ultrasound president and CEO Roland Rott said: “Adding the fast-growing and relatively new field of real-time surgical visualisation to GE’s pre- and post-operative Ultrasound capabilities will create an end-to-end offering through the full continuum of care—from diagnosis through therapy and beyond. GE Healthcare and BK Medical share a passion for clinical innovation, and I’m excited to welcome BK Medical to our team.”

This transaction enables BK Medical’s Active Imaging platform to reach new customers and new markets around the world, and the combination of GE Healthcare’s diagnostic imaging technology with BK’s ability to enable decision-making and surgical visualisation in intervention will allow better decision-making throughout the care continuum. GE Healthcare expects BK Medical to deliver rapid revenue growth as well as margin expansion and free cash flow growth. GE Healthcare also expects high-single-digit return on invested capital by year five.

The parties expect the transaction to close in 2022, subject to review by the relevant regulatory authorities.