Instrumentarium Corporation

Instrumentarium was a Finnish medical technology company in 1900-2004. GE acquired the company for $2,3 billion in 2003. Company's sales were €1,2 billion with 6.400 employees. 80% of the sales came from Anaesthesia and Critical Care: Datex-Ohmeda, Spacelabs and Deio. Instrumentarium brand is currently used by the optical retail chain that was sold in 2002. Instrumentarium was founded by the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim members in 1900 to import health care devices in Finland. The company was listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange in 1971-2004. The best known products of Instrumentarium were critical care equipment. Datex was founded in 1969, and through the years it became the world leader for anaesthesia and critical care monitoring. In 1993, Instrumentarium acquired the Swedish ventilator manufacturer Engstrom, and in 1998 the world leader in anaesthesia machines, Ohmeda, for $490 million. Datex-Ohmeda became the undisputed leader in anaesthesia and critical care equipment. In 2001, clinical information systems were incorporated as a separate company, Deio. Spacelabs medical was acquired in 2002 for €142 million. Palomex, that built its reputation in dental X-ray, mammography and MRI technology, was acquired in 1977. Later MRI business was merged in a JV named Picker North Star. In 2001, dental x-ray manufacturer Soredex was acquired. Altor acquired the imaging businesses in 2005 and the changed its name to PaloDEx. PaloDEx was acquired by Danaher in 2009, and it is currently part of Danaher’s dental segment KaVo Kerr. Other past Instrumentarium companies include: Metos (catering equipment), Merivaara (hospital furniture), Mijnhardt (pulmonary equipment), Instrumed (medical equipment distributor), Ohmeda Medical (infant care), Instru Data (information technology), Bergenheim (cosmetics distributor), Medinovum (generic drugs), Medko Medical (hospital projects), Dentaldepot and LM Dental (dentist supplies), Tekno-Rema (mobile phones retailer). .