SEOUL, KOREA - Samsung Medison will absorb the medical equipment unit of Samsung Electronics as part of a strategy to expand the medical business. According to group sources on October 26, Samsung Electronics will spin off its medical equipment manufacturing unit within the consumer electronics division and merge it with Samsung Medison. Samsung had acquired Medison, the ultrasound diagnosis device maker, in 2011 and currently holds a 68.45-percent stake in it.

 

The group plans to put other medical device makers, such as Nexus (cardiac point-of-care testing solution provider) and NeuroLogica (portable CT scanner maker), under one roof with Samsung Medison, based on the judgment that it must grow its healthcare unit big comparable to the likes of GE, Philips, and Siemens that dominate the world's medical device market.

 

Earlier, Samsung Electronics had reviewed an idea of moving Samsung Medison within the framework of Samsung Electronics' medical equipment unit. Soon it folded the idea, however, as more managers argued for a spinoff given its distinctiveness from other electronic appliances.

 

Article provided by The Korea Economic Daily