Philips buys BioTelemetry for US$2.8b

[AMSTERDAM] Royal Philips agreed to buy US-based BioTelemetry for US$2.8 billion to expand in wearable heart monitors as the Dutch company expands in the burgeoning at-home care market.

Shareholders of Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based BioTelemetry will receive US$72 a share in cash, Philips said in a statement Friday, a 17 per cent premium over Thursday's closing price.

With the global coronavirus pandemic still raging, demand for Philips' equipment that allows doctors and nurses to provide real-time care over the cloud is surging. The Amsterdam-based company expects the BioTelemetry purchase to add to sales growth and expand its profit margin in 2021.

The bulk of BioTelemetry's sales come from equipment to diagnose and monitor heart disorders, with AI-based data analytics used to pick up abnormalities. It's a market worth more than US$3 billion and growing, Philips said in its statement.

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