Varex acquires imaging firm

Salt Lake City-based Varex Imaging Corp. has acquired the medical imaging business of PerkinElmer Inc. of Santa Clara, California. PerkinElmer develops, manufactures and sells digital detectors that are components in medical and industrial X-ray systems.

The sale price was reported as $276 million, subject to adjustment at closing.

Varex, which was spun off from 65-year-old Varian Medical Systems earlier this year, designs and also manufactures X-ray system components, including tubes and digital flat-panel detectors. The company employs approximately 1,800 people, including 280 that will join the company from PerkinElmer, at manufacturing and service sites in North America, Europe and Asia.

“We are very excited about the opportunities and prospects of adding this imaging expertise into the Varex organization, said Sunny Sanyal, CEO of Varex. “I want to welcome our new employees to Varex and I look forward to having the combined team focused on integrating our operations to achieve our goal of producing the broadest, most cost-effective portfolio of components for the imaging industry.”

The leader of Varex’s combined imaging detector business will be Brian Giambattista, newly appointed senior vice president and general manager of X-ray detectors. Giambattista will provide continuity for the business, having served as president of Perkin-

Elmer Medical Imaging business since 2008. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the industry, having held various management and engineering roles at PerkinElmer and General Electric. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Virginia. 

Rick Colbeth, who held the same role at Varex role prior to completion of the acquisition, will become Varex’s senior vice president of engineering.

“This imaging business is highly complementary to Varex’s imaging detector business and has a similar financial profile. Customer overlap is minimal and we see revenue and cost synergy opportunities that we expect to achieve over time,” Sanyal added.