Imatron Announces Sale of HeartScan-San Francisco to Imaging Technology Group; $1.5 Million Purchase Financed by GE
SO. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. (March 1) BUSINESS WIRE -March 1, 1999--Imatron Inc. (Nasdaq:IMAT) announced today that it has sold its HeartScan-San Francisco coronary artery disease risk assessment center for $1.5 million in cash to Imaging Technology Group (ITG), a privately-held diagnostic imaging services company located in South San Francisco, California. The transaction closed on February 25, 1999. The purchase by Imaging Technology Group was financed by GE Capital, consistent with the marketing alliance between General Electric Medical Systems and Imatron.
S. Lewis Meyer, Imatron's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased to announce the sale of HeartScan-San Francisco to Imaging Technology Group, which will result in a one-time transactional profit of approximately $.02 per share. We believe this is a positive step toward the sale of the remaining HeartScan operations and supports our corporate strategy of focusing all of our resources on worldwide sales of our Ultrafast CT(R) scanner. We are actively engaged in discussions with other interested parties regarding the sale of all, or a portion, of the remaining HeartScan operations and look forward to consummating a sale, or sales, in the near future."
Mr. Meyer continued, "Imatron's investment in HeartScan created significant value by establishing the visibility of coronary artery scanning and Ultrafast CT, forming a foundation upon which we can build our new, focused sales initiatives under the leadership of our President, Terry Ross. We look forward to HeartScan continuing to be an important factor in creating and accelerating the revolutionary changes now apparent in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease. The paradigm for dealing with heart disease in the United States is shifting toward more emphasis on the early diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis. Although this process is slower than we would like; it is inevitable and Ultrafast CT is at the center of this change."
Jeffrey Anton, Chief Financial Officer of Imaging Technology Group, stated, "Based on the tremendous public awareness of the power and importance of Ultrafast CT and the Coronary Artery Scan generated by Imatron and HeartScan over the last three years, we are extremely confident in the business prospects for HeartScan-San Francisco. Advertising programs and physician education efforts have built a strong business base that we will now build on to increase patient volumes and profitability. We are looking forward to demonstrating the "state of the art" diagnostic capabilities of Imatron's electron beam tomography (EBT) technology combined with innovative computer workstation software to the San Francisco Bay Area community."
HeartScan Imaging, Inc. currently operates coronary artery disease risk assessment centers utilizing Imatron's Ultrafast CT scanners in Houston, Texas; Washington D.C.; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as a scanner operated by a third party known as HeartScan-Iberia located in Cascais, Portugal, a suburb of Lisbon.
Imatron, Inc. is primarily engaged in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting high performance computed tomography (CT) scanners based on the Company's proprietary scanning electron beam technology. Ultrafast CT is a registered trademark of Imatron. Imatron's Ultrafast CT scanner is now in use at major medical centers around the world, including The Mayo Clinic, University of Iowa, National Institutes of Health, UCLA, Stanford University, University of Illinois, The Arizona Heart Institute, The Royal Brompton Hospital in London, Tokyo University Hospital and Beijing Hospital.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and estimates about the industry in which Imatron operates, the estimated impact of certain technological advances, the estimated impact of published research studies on scanner sales and procedures, as well as management's beliefs and assumptions. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. The factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include, among others: failed clinical demonstration of certain asserted technological advantages and diagnostic capabilities; reliance on product distributors; competition in the diagnostic imaging market; failure to improve product reliability or introduce new product models and enhancements; delays in production and difficulty in obtaining components and sub-assemblies from limited sources of supply; inability to meet cash-on-delivery or prepayment terms from vendors; determinations by regulatory and administrative government authorities; patent expiration and denial of patent applications; the high cost of the scanner as compared to commercially available CT scanners; and the risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including their reports on Form 10-K for their current fiscal year.
-0- cs/sf*
CONTACT: Imatron Inc., So. San Francisco
S. Lewis Meyer, CEO or Robin Kelley, Investor Relations
or Gary Brooks, VP Finance/CFO, 650/583-9964
KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICINE MERGERS/ACQ Today's News On The Net -
Business Wire's full file on the Internet
with Hyperlinks to your home page.
URL: http://www.businesswire.com