Cantel Medical to pony up $60M+ for endoscope reprocessing company

Cantel Medical has agreed to acquire BHT Hygienetechnik Holding GmbH (BHT Group) for about $60.8 million. The German company markets automated endoscope processing technology.

In the deal, Cantel will pick up endoscope storage and drying systems and flexible endoscope repair services, as well as automatic endoscope reprocessors. The deal is expected to close at the end of August.

"The addition of BHT Group will enable us to become the market leader in automated endoscope reprocessors in Germany," said Cantel Medical CEO Jorgen Hansen. "We're excited to combine BHT's expertise and the talent with our Cantel Germany operations. Together we will deliver a market leading portfolio of endoscopy products and services to our customer."

This isn’t Cantel’s first endoscope-related deal. In 2015, the New Jersey-based company inked a deal to buy U.K.-based Medical Innovations Group for $79.5 million. It acquired an endoscope storage system and endoscopy consumables in the transaction.

The Medical Innovations Group deal came after the FDA highlighted that the design of some duodenoscopes—a type of endoscope—prevented them from being cleaned properly and contributed to the spread of infectious bacteria. At the time, an internal investigation at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center showed that two medical duodenoscopes may have transmitted a deadly infection between patients, even though the scopes were sterilized to the manufacturer's standards.