Varian and Mitsubishi to Form Joint Radiotherapy Venture

A joint venture that will provide radiotherapy equipment and service in Japan and other Asian countries has been announced by Varian Medical Systems (Palo Alto, CA, USA) and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Tokyo, Japan). Mitsubishi Electric Corp's current radiotherapy business will be transferred to the joint venture.

To be headquartered in Japan, the joint venture is expected to start in January 2004. The company will sell Varian Medical Systems' full line of radiotherapy products as well as Mitsubishi Electric Corp's medical and industrial linear accelerators and will service and support these products. The medical linear accelerators will be sold through the venture only during the first two years. Varian will be the majority owner of the venture and will acquire Mitsubishi Electric's share of the venture at the end of three years. The venture is expected to contribute US$10-12 million in additional annual service revenue to Varian Medical Systems. Financial terms will be disclosed when the transaction is concluded, which is expected in December 2003.

The arrangement covers all the service and support activities for Mitsubishi's installed base of around 500 medical and industrial linear accelerators in Japan and other countries, mainly in Asia. Two wholly owned subsidiaries of Mitsubishi Electric will transfer about 60 service, engineering, sales, and management personnel out of its current workforce and into the joint venture.

"Customers and employees will benefit from this new venture, which combines the expertise of both companies to more effectively meet the needs of radiotherapy markets in Japan and Asia,” said Dick Levy, chairman and CEO of Varian Medical Systems.





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