Trex Medical signs deal to buy XRE

Trex Medical continues to roll on the acquisition road. The holdingcompany for x-ray firms Lorad and Bennett X-Ray last week signeda letter of intent to buy XRE of Littleton, MA, a vendor of cardiaccath labs and angiography suites.

XRE will give Trex Medical a presence in the upper end of x-rayto complement the positions Lorad and Bennett have in basic x-rayand mammography. When the deal is completed, XRE systems willbe sold through qualified Bennett and Lorad dealers, accordingto Trex Medical president and CEO Hal Kirshner. XRE also suppliescardiac cath labs to Philips on an OEM basis and had revenuesof $28.6 million last year.

Further synergies may come from the integration of Trex Medical'shigh-end digital detector technology that is under development.For example, a flat-panel digital detector could be substitutedfor the image intensifier on an XRE cardiac cath lab, accordingto Kirshner.