Baxter International Inc. is in advanced talks to buy medical equipment manufacturer Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. for about $ 10 billion, according to people who know the subject.
A deal that values Hill-Rom at around $ 150 a share could be reached in half a week assuming the talks don’t fall apart, people said.
The talks follow a previous offer by Baxter worth $ 144 per share that Hill-Rom turned down. Shares of Hill-Rom jumped in late July on news of this offer and have remained high, closing at $ 132.90 on Friday. Hill-Rom currently has a market capitalization of about $ 9 billion. Baxter’s is about $ 37 billion.
Chicago-based Hill-Rom, founded in 1915, manufactures medical equipment such as hospital beds and patient control devices.
Baxter is a medical technology company based in Deerfield, Illinois, which focuses on areas such as critical, nutritional and surgical products.