Drug wholesaler McKesson Corp struck a deal to purchase medical products distributor PSS World Medical for $1.46 billion to bolster its surgical devices supply business.McKesson will pay $29.00 per share in cash, a 34 percent premium to PSS World Medical's stock close on Wednesday."It is not a particularly expensive deal. (It) allows McKesson to help sustain margins in the medical distribution market and overall, I think it is a good use of shareholder capital," ISI Group analyst Ross Muken said.In 2000, Jacksonville, Florida-based PSS had drawn interest from Fisher Scientific, now a unit of Thermo Fisher Scientific , which was willing to pay about $840 million, or $11.86 per PSS share.
PSS World Medical, Inc. (PSSI) is a national distributor of medical products and supplies, diagnostic equipment, healthcare information technology and pharmaceutical products, and provides professional and consulting services to the physician, long-term care, assisted living, home health care, and hospice markets. Shares of PSSI remained unchanged at $21.60. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $18.64 and as high as $25.99. On average, 815234 shares of PSSI exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 7744448.
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (Thermo Fisher) is engaged in serving science. Shares of TMO remained unchanged at $60.36. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $43.06 and as high as $61.72. On average, 1852470 shares of TMO exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 0.
Source
