Industrial manufacturer Roper Industries ($ROP) has agreed to buy diagnostics software company Sunquest Information Systems for $1.4 billion in cash, joining the crowd of big firms buying their way into the diagnostic business.
Sunquest makes clinical and anatomic lab software for hospitals and laboratories, with more than 1,700 placements worldwide, the company said. And Roper expects the acquisition to pay off, as an aging population and expanding lab diagnostics use create a need for efficient software to manage Dx workflow. Sunquest is a leader in that field, Roper's CEO said in a statement.
"Sunquest meets all of Roper's key acquisition criteria and is an ideal fit with both our medical and software platforms," CEO Brian Jellison said. "Sunquest's software and application-engineering capabilities deliver an outstanding return on investment for their customers."
Sunquest is currently owned by equity firms Huntsman Gay Global Capital and Vista Equity Partners, and the company's products will still be marketed under the Sunquest name after the Roper acquisition.
The deal is another high-dollar buyout of a diagnostics firm, as more and more companies are betting on the growing field for future profits. Earlier this month, Thermo Fisher ($TMO) inked a deal to buy diagnosticsmaker One Lambda for $925 million, and Hologic closed a $3.7 billion buy of molecular Dx firm Gen-Probe.
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