AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Royal Philips Electronics NV said Tuesday it would offer $430 million in cash for U.S. medical services company Visicu Inc., whose board has recommended the deal to shareholders.
Baltimore-based Visicu makes patient monitoring equipment, and Philips said the purchase would help it expand its product and service offerings.
The Dutch company's offer of $12 a share is a 35 percent premium over Visicu's closing price of $8.86 on Monday.
Visicu's shares soared $2.79, or, 31.5 percent, to $11.65 in morning trading Tuesday in New York.
''By integrating Visicu's remote patient monitoring and clinical decision support technology with Philips' patient monitors, both companies expect to accelerate growth by offering products that provide more effective clinical decision support to hospital staff, while allowing them to monitor far greater numbers of critically ill patients,'' Philips said in a statement.
Philips said it expected to receive approval for the deal from both regulators and shareholders of Visicu. It said it hoped to close the deal in the first quarter of 2008.
