Baxter to buy Swedish firm Gambro
Drug and medical device maker Baxter International says it will buy the privately held Swedish company Gambro in a deal valued at about $2.76 billion to broaden its dialysis product portfolio.
The Deerfield, Ill., company says Gambro makes dialysis products for patients with acute or chronic kidney disease. It had sales of about $1.6 billion last year.
Baxter International Inc. says dialysis treatment rates are rising more than 5 percent annually, partly because of rising rates of diabetes and high blood pressure.
Baxter will pay for the deal with a combination of debt and cash generated from overseas operations. It expects the acquisition to close in the first half of next year. The deal is worth about $4 billion, counting debt.