BELFAST-based defibrillator maker HeartSine Technologies, a world leader in emergency cardiac technology, has been acquired in a multi-million dollar deal by US medical device firm Physio-Control.
Financial details of the tie-up haven't been revealed, but the Irish News understands the price paid is in the region of £50 million, making it one of the biggest merger and acquisition deals in Northern Ireland this year.
And combination creates one of the world's largest providers of automated external defibrillator (AED), the type currently found in hundreds of sports clubs, offices, factories, airports and public buildings.
HeartSine was founded in 1997 by Professor John Anderson, who worked with out-of-hospital mobile coronary care pioneer Dr. Frank Pantridge in Belfast in the 1960s and 1970s and was part of the team that developed the world’s first mobile coronary care unit.
It currently employs 115 employees in Belfast in its design and manufacturing facility and makes between 25,000 and 30,000 units a year to global customers such as BP, American Airlines and the Singapore military.
In its last trading year HeartSine had a turnover of £12.3 million and made a profit of £1.9m. It has assets of £2.6 million and sells 86 per cent of its output in external markets. However, it's the intellectual property which makes the company so valuable.
Sudden cardiac arrest remains one of the biggest health care problems in the world, and AEDs are seen as a critical part of the solution.
The global market for such devices is soaring, and the joint aim of the enlarged new company is to save more lives through having more AEDs in more places.
Indeed just last year HeartSine chief executive Declan O'Mahoney insisted Northern Ireland requires "urgent legislation" to ensure portable defibrillators are made available in every government and public building, a leading businessman claimed yesterday.
He told the Irish News: "In 2013 there were 343 fire-related deaths in the UK while 100,000 people died from sudden cardiac arrest. Yet by law every company, large or small, has to have fire extinguishers installed - yet there is no law to have a defibrillator.
"A defibrillator needs to be treated as equally important as a fire extinguisher - and I believe every business, restaurant, shop, office and taxi in the world should have one," he said.
Last night Mr O'Mahoney said: “This acquisition is very good for HeartSine and our distributors. Our teams share a strong clinical focus, and together we have exciting opportunities ahead for technical, scientific and marketing collaboration.
“Most importantly, we have a strong cultural fit and a common mission to prevent unnecessary deaths from sudden cardiac arrest.”
Physio-Control is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Its chief executive Brian Webster said: “With Physio-Control and HeartSine now united in our lifesaving missions, we will be able to offer a tremendous range of AED solutions to our global customers and partners.”
Itself sold five years ago for $487 million, Physio-Control is best known for its Lifepak emergency defibrillators used by ambulance crews and other first responders in the US to treat cardiac arrest and which it distributes in more than 100 countries.
