The U.S. Federal Trade Commission granted early termination for Cerner of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, which will allow the Kansas City-based company to maintain its acquisition of Siemens Health Services for $1.3 billion in cash.
Waiving of the HSR waiting period was a condition to the closing of the pending acquisition. The acquisition remains subject to other customary closing conditions and is still expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
"We're pleased to have cleared this important regulatory hurdle and to be one step closer to integrating Siemens Health Services and its clients into the Cerner family," Dick Flanigan, Cerner senior vice president, said in a statement.
The Cerner-Siemens was announced in August. The deal will combine R&D, knowledgeable resources, and complementary client bases. Specifically, Cerner says the combined company will have 20,000 associates in more than 30 countries, 18,000 client facilities, including some of the largest health care organizations in their respective countries, $650 million of annual R&D investment, and a projected $4.5 billion of annual revenue.
