Agfa suitor Kanteron Systems studies multiple options after approach rebuffed - source
Kanteron Systems, the privately held Spanish medical technology company, is studying multiple options about how to proceed after Agfa-Gevaert [EBR:AGFB] rebuffed its approach, said a source familiar with the situation.
Buying the Belgian company would crystallize an obvious synergy, the source said. Agfa-Gevaert has the brand recognition and market penetration that Kanteron lacks, while its unlisted suitor believes it has more advanced precision medicine technology, the source added.
The underlying mission of both companies is to offer health professionals the best tools to treat patients, the source said.
The source declined to comment on whether Kanteron could submit an offer directly to Agfa shareholders. The source also declined to provide advisory names or to discuss a potential valuation for Agfa.
Kanteron, which made its approach for Agfa through its blog and a non-binding letter, did not disclose an indicative price.
If the deal fails, Kanteron’s objective is to get critical mass as soon as possible as there is a window of opportunity for the technology before competitors catch up with it, the source said.
The objective is to get the technology into the hands of as many doctors and hospitals as quickly as possible, the source said.
The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved turnover of EUR 2.443bn in 2017. Kanteron does not publish sales figures, the source said.
In the blog, the suitor said that Agfa’s revenues have been stagnant, while some of its distributors have already signed up with the Spanish company’s disruptive technology in pathology and genomics.
On its website, Kanteron says that its mission is to organize clinical information to help eradicate diseases before symptoms appear. It was founded in 2005 in Valencia, Spain, and has been deployed 500 times in 12 countries.
Shares in Agfa were trading at EUR 3.95 on Monday afternoon, giving it a market value of EUR 678.47m.
A spokesperson for Kanteron declined to comment.