The deal, if executed, is touted to become the largest ever for Oracle with the tech major offering a price of around $95 per share in cash for acquiring the publicly-listed health IT company
Cerner Realization Campus in Kansas City. (Credit: Hookmeupbarb/Wikipedia.org)
Oracle is reportedly in talks to acquire Cerner, a Missouri-based health information and electronic health record (EHR) technology provider, for potential consideration of about $30bn.
If a definitive agreement is reached by the parties, then it will be the biggest ever deal for Oracle, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing people having knowledge of the matter.
Citing undisclosed sources, CNBC’s David Faber tweeted that Oracle is expected to announce the acquisition of Cerner on 21 December. Oracle is likely to offer a price in the “mid 90’s” dollars per share for the publicly-listed health IT company.
Cerner’s health technologies are used at contracted provider facilities around the world to enable smarter care for individuals and communities. The company is said to enable clinicians in taking care decisions apart from helping organisations in population health management.
Cerner is also engaged in providing an integrated clinical and financial system to help in the daily management of revenue functions. Besides, the company offers a range of people-focused services to support clinical, operational, and financial requirements.
For the third quarter of 2021, the company reported revenue of $1.46bn. The company is expected to see its fourth-quarter 2021 revenue increase upper-mid-single digits compared to the revenue of $1.39bn in the same period in 2020.
Cerner’s revenue in 2020 was $5.5bn. Its full-year 2021 revenue has been forecast to be in the range of $5.75bn and $5.95bn.
In October 2021, the company launched a new business unit called Cerner Enviza. The new unit offers data-driven solutions and research services with an aim to help bring clarity to multi-dimensional data with real-world evidence and insights.
For Oracle, the acquisition of Cerner is expected to boost its position in the healthcare sector.
Recently, Oracle opened cloud regions in Italy and Sweden to serve private and public sector organisations by supporting their increasing cloud computing demands.