Royal Philips buys Meditronics

New Delhi: As a part of its strategy to consolidate its leadership in the healthcare space, Royal Philips Electronics has acquired Mumbai-based Meditronics, a manufacturer of general X-ray systems for an undisclosed amount.

The Netherlands-based company said it is also looking to shift a chunk of its R&D work to emerging markets, besides being on a constant look out to acquire companies in its verticals of growth.

“We will shift the R&D and marketing-related activities to emerging markets. In India, we have been a seeing high double digit growth,” Mr Gerard Kleisterlee, Chief Executive Officer, Royal Philips Electronics, told reporters here.

Speaking on the acquisition, he said there is buoyancy in the healthcare sector in India. “The acquisition of Meditronics, just two months after we announced the acquisition of Alpha, highlights our efforts to expand our healthcare business in emerging markets and India in particular,” he said.

He said Philips will invest to expand sales besides leveraging on its global distribution network to expand its offerings of economy X-ray products in other emerging and mature markets. The medical equipment business in India is estimated to be Rs 2,800 crore and growing annually at 12-15 per cent.

On whether it is planning to downsize in India following the global melt-down, Mr Kleisterlee said “Philips is rightsizing its workforce proactively. However, in India, we are looking to add more employees.”

Currently, it employs about 130,000 people globally and offers products across the medical-equipment, consumer-product and lighting segments.

The economic crisis has slowed the pace of growth at its lighting and consumer-product segments, but growth at the medical-equipment segment continues, Mr Kleisterlee said.