Roper embarks on $1.4 billion deal

A Lakewood Ranch-based medical and industrial equipment manufacturer is making big gains in the hospital software industry.

Roper Industries is purchasing Arizona-based Sunquest Information Systems for $1.42 billion.

Sunquest, a hospital software company, provides diagnostic and laboratory software to more than 1,700 hospitals around the world.

“Sunquest meets all of Roper’s key acquisition criteria and is an ideal fit with both our Medical and Software platforms,” said Brian Jellison, Roper’s chairman, president and CEO. “The business is the market leader in software solutions for the critically important healthcare provider laboratory market. We expect Sunquest to benefit in all economic environments from very favorable market forces – an aging population, expansion of anatomic pathology, and the need for reduced healthcare costs and improved quality of care. Sunquest’s software and application engineering capabilities deliver an outstanding return on investment for their customers.

The deal is the largest one the company has ever made, officials said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].