Orion founder Ian McCrae. Photo: Supplied
- Orion Health to be taken over by Canadian firm HEALWELL
- Purchase price Canadian$144 million (NZ$175m) in cash and shares
- Orion operates in 11 countries with 400 employees
- Deal involves Orion's two key products, future of other products to be decided
New Zealand medical software company Orion Health is to be taken over by a Canadian health technology company HEALWELL AI for about NZ$175 million.
Orion was a pioneer local health technology company, which developed software for managing patient records in the 1990s and listed on the NZX in 2014.
Chief executive Brad Porter said the deal would drive future growth.
"There is so much potential with our combined capabilities to meet unmet health needs in ways that could be game-changing for the health of entire communities. When we link up data and insights with AI-assisted action we will see data saving lives on a scale not seen before."
HEALWELL chair Hamed Shahbazi called the acquisition of Orion a "game changer".
"Orion Health brings significant large enterprise customers, recurring revenues, strong operating margins and free cashflow conversion to HEALWELL while providing a significant new channel for the distribution of its best-in-class AI products and services."
HEALWELL said it intended to divest the non-core Orion assets, with the takeover set to be finalised by April next year.
It said Orion Health was expected to have revenue of more than NZ$122m next year with operating earnings of $24m.
Checkered past
Orion listed on the NZX in late 2014 in a blaze of publicity and optimism, with a debut share price 14 percent above the issue price making it instantly a billion dollar company.
Like most technology companies it burnt through cash and posted hefty losses in its early years as it looked to develop products and markets.
However, its $6 a shareprice plunged to $1 as the losses mounted and it needed to restructure, cut costs and staff.
By 2018 it found a white knight in the form of a British company to give it a cash injection, but at the cost of losing its best performing operations.
Founder Ian McCrae took the firm private in 2019, in part because of the high costs of being listed and also the [https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/464112/orion-develops-health-data-exchange-for-saudi-arabia
mandatory reporting and disclosure rules].
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