The U.S. Department of Justice has given the green light to GE’s acquisition of Finnish medical device and software developer Instrumentarium. But the approval requires GE to divest Instrumentarium’s Ziehm mobile C-arm business, as well as its Spacelabs patient-monitoring unit.
The DOJ said on Tuesday that it had reached a settlement with GE of Fairfield, CT, in which Ziehm and Spacelabs units would be sold due to concerns that the deal, as originally proposed, would result in less competition in the C-arm and patient-monitoring markets. GE has large market shares in both industry segments, with its C-arm business led by its GE OEC Medical Systems unit.
The department’s antitrust division filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, yesterday seeking to block the original transaction. At the same time it also filed a proposed consent decree that, if approved by the court, would resolve the department’s competitive concerns and the lawsuit.
European Union officials approved the merger earlier this month, requiring only that GE divest itself of the Spacelabs business. EU regulators determined that the deal would not have a serious impact on competition in either the C-arm industry or the mammography segment, Instrumentarium’s other radiology business.
By AuntMinnie.com staff writersSeptember 17, 2003
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GE, Instrumentarium deal may be in trouble, April 4, 2003
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