Oracle to buy medical records company Cerner for $28.3bn

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Oracle to buy medical records company Cerner for $28.3bn

The logo of cloud service provider Oracle is seen in the company's offices in Eastpoint Business Park, Dublin.

Oracle Corp., a software maker, said on Monday it would buy electronic medical records company Cerner Corp for $28.3bn in a bid to strengthen its presence in the healthcare sector.

Cerner shareholders will receive $95 in cash for every share they hold, which is a 5.8% premium on the company's closing price on Friday.

The deal, which will be Oracle's biggest ever after its acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2004, will help the software maker bolster the services it provides to healthcare clients, including insurers.

After Epic Systems Corp, Cerner, the biggest seller of software used for electronic recording of healthcare data in the United States, will give Oracle access to data that it can use to train and improve its artificial intelligence-based cloud services.

Since the pandemic began, demand for cloud-based solutions in the healthcare sector has picked up pace, including telehealth services and automation of health records.

The deal is expected to close in 2022, according to the company.