Cerner To Buy Siemens Health Services For $1.3 Bln

(RTTNews) - Cerner Corp. (CERN) said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy the assets of Siemens AG's health information technology business unit, Siemens Health Services, for $1.3 billion in cash.

As part of the agreement, Cerner and Siemens will form a strategic alliance to bring new solutions to market that combine Cerner's health IT leadership and Siemens' strengths in medical devices and imaging. Each company will contribute up to $50 million to fund projects of shared importance to both companies and their clients.

Based on 2014 estimates, Cerner and Siemens Health Services have combined totals of more than 20,000 associates in more than 30 countries, 18,000 client facilities and $4.5 billion of annual revenue.

The deal is expected to be more than $0.15 accretive to Cerner's adjusted earnings per share in 2015, and more than $0.25 accretive in 2016.

Cerner plans to finance the acquisition with cash on hand. The deal, which has been approved by the boards of Cerner and Siemens, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.