Royal Philips Electronics NV on Tuesday, Dec. 18, announced its second U.S. medical IT acquisition this month with an agreement to buy Visicu Inc. for about $430 million.

Philips will offer $12 for each share of Visicu, which is based in Baltimore, Md. The price is 35% above Visicu's closing price on Nasdaq Monday.

Tuesday's announcement comes two weeks after Philips agreed to pay an undisclosed price for Emergin Inc., a privately held Boca Raton, Fla.-based provider of software used to transmit medical alarm signals within hospitals. Philips claims to have a leading position in the $3 billion global patient monitoring market and Steve Rusckowski, CEO of Philips Healthcare, said Tuesday that rising patient numbers, staff shortages and patient-safety concerns presented opportunities for his company.

"By investing in clinical IT solutions like those offered by Visicu and Emergin, we believe we can offer customers more attractive patient monitoring solutions that improve hospital productivity as well as patient outcomes," he added in the statement.

Philips plans to expand Visicu outside the U.S.

Analyst Victor Bareño, of SNS Securities NV in Amsterdam, noted that at 30 times expected Ebitda, the Visicu deal appears expensive at first site.

"However, Visicu will be a nice complement to the company's [Philips'] strong position in patient monitoring," wrote the analyst, who recommends buying Philips shares.

Given the relatively small size of the deal, the analyst also predicts a limited impact on Philips Healthcare's results in the short term.

Philips spokesman Jayson Otke said his company expects the business to be cash-flow positive in 2008 and to crate sales synergies of about €200 million at an unspecified point.

Founded in 1988, Visicu employs about 100 people and posted about $9 million of Ebitda on sales of about $36 million in the 12 months ended September. The company has been traded on Nasdaq since April 2006. Its CEO is Frank Sample, whose future at Visicu will be determined while the businesses are being integrated.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter. Philips predicts that integrating the businesses will take up to 18 months.

Philips shares were down €0.30 at €29.70 on Euronext Amsterdam on Tuesday morning.