Surgical Science Sweden offers to acquire Intelligent Ultrasound Group for £45.2 million

LONDON: Surgical Science Sweden AB has reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition of Intelligent Ultrasound Group by means of a court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement.

 Under the terms of the acquisition, Intelligent Ultrasound shareholders shall be entitled to receive 13 pence in cash for each share held.

The acquisition price values the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Intelligent Ultrasound at approximately £45.2 million on a fully diluted basis.

Surgical Science has established itself as a leader in medical simulation, dedicated to enhancing medical training through innovative technologies.

Surgical Science has closely monitored the developments at Intelligent Ultrasound for some time. Following Intelligent Ultrasound’s strategic decision to sell its Clinical AI Business to GE HealthCare, this moment presents a unique opportunity for both companies to join forces in a way that can significantly benefit both companies’ long-term goals.

Riccardo Pigliucci, Non-Executive Chairman of Intelligent Ultrasound, said: “The Intelligent Ultrasound Board is proud of the Intelligent Ultrasound Group’s achievements and evolution over the past five years which is, in no small part, due to the hard work and diligence of all our employees. However, with the sale of the Clinical AI Business earlier in the year, the Intelligent Ultrasound Board was faced with the task of re-focusing the Intelligent Ultrasound Group on growing its original but niche ultrasound simulation business.

The medical simulation market is now consolidating and to reach the required scale to efficiently and effectively compete with the larger medical simulation companies, the Intelligent Ultrasound Board would have had to invest a substantial portion of the Clinical AI Business sale proceeds in organic expansion and/or material acquisitions.

Recognising the difficulties of quickly achieving scale, combined with shareholders’ strong preference for an efficient return of the majority of the proceeds from the sale of the Clinical AI Business, the Intelligent Ultrasound Board believes that the sale to Surgical Science allows Intelligent Ultrasound to both efficiently return capital to shareholders, as well as providing the majority of employees and broader stakeholders with the advantage of joining a considerably larger, broad-based simulation focused business that we believe will provide the scale, resources and investment to be successful and sustainable in the global simulation market.

As such, we believe that the time is opportune for the shareholders, employees and customers of Intelligent Ultrasound to take advantage of the opportunities being offered with Surgical Science and the Intelligent Ultrasound Board is therefore unanimously recommending this deal to shareholders.”

Tom Englund, CEO of Surgical Science said: “We have followed Intelligent Ultrasound for many years and are impressed with the position that the team has managed to build in the ultrasound simulation market. The ultrasound market is developing rapidly with a strong increase in the number of systems sold, highlighting the need for simulation training that will enable practitioners to utilise the systems to their full potential.

Through the acquisition of Intelligent Ultrasound, we further diversify our product portfolio and expand our geographical reach and sales network, enabling us to provide a comprehensive suite of ultrasound simulation products across the world, benefitting customers and reinforcing our market leadership. We look forward to the Intelligent Ultrasound team joining us and to start working together towards our high ambitions in the growing medical simulation market.”

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