Agfa HealthCare to acquire European contrast media company Insight Agents

Company expands radiology solutions offering with new range of pharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging

Agfa HealthCare, a leading provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions, announces today that it has signed an agreement with Curagita Holding AG to acquire all the shares of its subsidiary Insight Agents GmbH. Insight Agents is a European developer and producer of contrast media, with business activities mainly in Germany. The final acquisition price is expected to be around 10 million Euro.

Contrast media are primarily used during medical imaging examinations with
x-rays, computed tomography (CT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), either to highlight specific anatomical structures (mostly vessels) or to perform functional imaging. Contrast media is already today a multi billion Euro market served by both large and small companies.

“The purchase of Insight Agents is an important strategic step towards future growth opportunities”, states Christian Reinaudo, President of Agfa HealthCare. “Agfa HealthCare is a strong player in the Radiology market with both Imaging and IT solutions. Today, we further enhance our diagnostic imaging business with a set of products that are increasingly used for diagnostic imaging procedures. These products are a logical addition to our portfolio of film, chemicals and printers and will be distributed through our extensive logistics and distribution network. ”

“The acquisition of Insight Agents allows us to offer to our customers a broader range of products for medical imaging”, states Dirk Debusscher, Vice President Imaging at Agfa HealthCare. “Agfa HealthCare has always been a leader with its film & print solutions. The decision to purchase a new line of business was made to ensure that we continue to offer a range of diagnostic imaging products over which we have full control, enabling us to deliver the highest quality radiology solutions, on time, all of the time”.

“The comprehensive portfolio of Insight Agents fits well with the distribution and logistics expertise of Agfa HealthCare”, states Dr. Johannes Schmidt-Tophoff, CEO of Curagita Holding AG. “We are convinced that Agfa HealthCare is the perfect company to bring our expanding spectrum of contrast agents to more customers world-wide, and we are working diligently to close the transaction by the end of 2009”.