IMS Health, a leading global provider of information and technology services to the healthcare and life sciences industries, has made an offer to acquire major parts of Cegedim’s CRM and Strategic Data businesses for €385 million (approximately $520 million).
“Over the past few years, we have been intensely focused on delivering more value and choice to clients,” Tor Constantino, Director, Global PR and External Affairs at IMS Health, tells PM360. “This acquisition will expand the range of our offerings for information and technology services, and it will give us added talent and capabilities in countries around the world. It will bring together complementary information solutions on a global basis, simplifying our customers’ operations and increasing their speed to insight. And, it will accelerate our technology services strategy, making us a major player in the CRM market.”
As part of the proposed deal, IMS Health would acquire Cegedim’s:
- CRM solutions that help life sciences clients in 80 countries drive sales effectiveness, optimize marketing programs across multiple channels and mitigate regulatory compliance risks.
- OneKey Reference Database that provides insights on 13.7 million healthcare professionals across the globe.
- Information solutions that use primary market research.
By acquiring these businesses, IMS Health would also gain more than 4,500 professionals skilled in software development, data warehousing, mobile applications, business intelligence tools, analytics and implementation services.
“This is recognition of the relevance and competitiveness of Cegedim’s global offerings which help pharmaceutical companies to manage their sales and marketing operations,” Jean-Claude Labrune, Chairman and CEO of Cegedim, said in a statement. “We believe this offer could create tremendous opportunities for our clients, our people and our shareholders.”
Constantino says it is too early to speculate on exactly what IMS Health will do with these new businesses as the deal still has to go through works council review, be approved by the Cegedim Board of Directors and go through European and U.S. regulatory approval. If the deal is accepted, then closing is expected to be finalized in early 2015.
If it does go through, Cegedim, a global technology and services company specializing in the healthcare field, plans to “refocus on software and databases for healthcare professionals and health insurance companies, and on its fast growing multi-industry activities such as e-business, e-collaboration and outsourced payroll and HR management,” according to a released statement.
Meanwhile, Constantino will say that the ability to unite complementary information solutions is a great opportunity to deliver enhanced offerings to IMS Health’s clients.
“They will have access to a wider range of globally consistent information offerings as well as improved data granularity and coverage for existing offerings,” Constantino explains. “Because we are early in the integration planning, there is a lot we don’t know yet, but we obviously view this as a positive opportunity.”
