Becton Dickinson Buys CareFusion

Announced this week, Becton, Dickinson’s purchase of CareFusion for $12.2 billion will serve as an example of healthcare reforms’ affect on medical suppliers.

The purchase of CareFusion is a strategic combination of two complementary companies: Becton produces more catheters used to serve drugs to patients, and CareFusion produces the machines that store and deliver those drugs. Furthermore, according to Becton’s chief executive Vince Forlenza, “one big attraction of CareFusion was the company’s software to help hospitals track their use of drugs and the machines to store the medicine and fill orders. Such tools are increasingly valuable as hospitals try to reduce waste and eliminate errors”.

CareFusion CEO Kieran T. Gallahue notes “As part of BD, we see new growth opportunities for our products in global markets, new value we can create for customers and new opportunities for our employees as part of what will become one of the largest, global leaders in med-tech”.

The two companies combined have a market capitalization of $32 billion. Will mergers such as these become more common place to adapt to the changing healthcare landscape?

For more on the merger, click here.

Sources:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/becton-dickinson-to-buy-carefusion-for-12-billion-1412542363

http://media.carefusion.com/index.php?s=32344&item=136874

http://www.massdevice.com/news/becton-dickinson-buy-carefusion-12-billion-cash-stock