Hill-Rom To Acquire Top Competitor In $2 Billion Deal

By Travis Thayer (Batesville, Ind.) – A Batesville-based medical technologies company has acquired one of its largest international competitors in a multi-billion dollar deal. Hill-Rom Holding Inc. has agreed to purchase Welch Allyn Inc., a privately held New York-based medical diagnostic equipment maker for about $2.05 billion in a move to become more competitive. The combined company will be headquartered in Chicago, Illinois and is expected to have $2.6 billion in revenue, with operations in more than 30 countries and about 10,000 employees globally. Hill-Rom President and CEO John Greisch will continue in both roles for the combined business. "Hill-Rom has aggressively pursued external growth opportunities that leverage Hill-Rom's existing channel strength to advance our strategic objectives of being a stronger, more diversified organization with the scale, resources and geographic reach to drive value across our business. This is a significant step in our transformational journey, and we are confident that our combination with Welch Allyn advances these objectives and will create a stronger platform from which to deliver significant value creation for our shareholders and other stakeholders”, said Greisch Welch Allyn Inc. stockholders will receive approximately $1.65 billion in cash and about 8.1 million newly issued shares of Hill-Rom stock. Upon the completion of the transaction, Welch Allyn shareholders, a group that consists of about 75 shareholders, will own approximately 13 percent of the combined company. No single Welch Allyn shareholder will own more than approximately one percent of Hill-Rom equity. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of September.