AFP, The Hague :
Dutch electronics giant Philips Wednesday announced it was buying for 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) a specialist US company manufacturing ground-breaking treatments for heart and vascular diseases to broaden its health portfolio.
The Amsterdam-based company said it would acquire Spectranetics, which has developed a range of lasers and balloons for treating blockages in cardio and arterial vessels.
Philips also simultaneously launched a two-year share buyback scheme of up to 1.5 billion euros, which will start in the third quarter and represent a total of some 46.1 million shares.
Spectranetics, which has 900 employees, is trialling a drug-coated balloon to treat calcified blood vessels from the inside and expects to get FDA approval in the United States soon, said Philips chief executive officer, Frans van Houten.
“The drug-coated balloon segment is one of the fastest growing segments in peripheral vessel procedures,” Van Houten told reporters on an early conference call.
The treatment had so far shown “fantastic performance,” he said, and Spectranetics, which is headquartered in Colorado Springs, is expected to see some $300 million in revenues this year.
The Spectranetics portfolio will be joined with Philips’ Volcano products to give the company “a nice line-up of devices for both heart, coronary and peripheral vascular” services.
Dutch electronics giant Philips Wednesday announced it was buying for 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) a specialist US company manufacturing ground-breaking treatments for heart and vascular diseases to broaden its health portfolio.
The Amsterdam-based company said it would acquire Spectranetics, which has developed a range of lasers and balloons for treating blockages in cardio and arterial vessels.
Philips also simultaneously launched a two-year share buyback scheme of up to 1.5 billion euros, which will start in the third quarter and represent a total of some 46.1 million shares.
Spectranetics, which has 900 employees, is trialling a drug-coated balloon to treat calcified blood vessels from the inside and expects to get FDA approval in the United States soon, said Philips chief executive officer, Frans van Houten.
“The drug-coated balloon segment is one of the fastest growing segments in peripheral vessel procedures,” Van Houten told reporters on an early conference call.
The treatment had so far shown “fantastic performance,” he said, and Spectranetics, which is headquartered in Colorado Springs, is expected to see some $300 million in revenues this year.
The Spectranetics portfolio will be joined with Philips’ Volcano products to give the company “a nice line-up of devices for both heart, coronary and peripheral vascular” services.
