Mergers and acquisitions kick off a season of giving

Suppliers of HP 3000 software and applications are already busy buying this year, changing ownership and reaching for new opportunities. As previously reported, the 3000 datacenter product supplier ORBiT Group International remains in negotiations with a German suitor, but no further word is available from the ORBiT executive offices. Rumors continued to surface about an Initial Public Offering at Smith-Gardner & Associates, as the maker of direct mail solutions remakes itself as a publically traded company.

Meanwhile, another 3000 solution supplier has had its top ownership change, as HBO & Company lined up to be purchased by giant drug wholesalers McKesson Corp. HBOC is already a $1.2 billion concern that includes the Amisys managed healthcare applications, so you know McKesson has got to weigh in pretty large to manage to buy them out. Analysts were wondering what HBOC was thinking — the company has posted earnings growth of about 50 percent consistently. One analyst thought HBOC was expecting a downturn in the health care information industry. Sales don’t show it, as the latest HBOC quarter set new earnings and revenue records.

HBOC president Bruce McCall said selling out to the maker of surgical gloves and an automated pharmacy dispensing system would be good for HBOC customers, who will now do business with McKesson HBOC. McCall said the two companies’ products used together could drive down the $330 billion in inappropriate or avoidable healthcare utilization — so HMOs could look toward better financial and clinical performance. McCall will be chairman of the new entity. McKesson has 35,000 group practice customers, a ripe market for solutions such as the Amisys software running on HP 3000s.




		Mergers and acquisitions kick off a season of giving Suppliers of HP 3000 software and applications are already busy buying this year, changing ownership and reaching for new opportunities. As previously reported, the 3000 datacenter product supplier ORBiT Group International remains in negotiations with a German suitor, but no further word is available from the ORBiT executive offices. Rumors continued to surface about an Initial Public Offering at Smith-Gardner & Associates, as the maker of direct mail solutions remakes itself as a publically traded company. Meanwhile, another 3000 solution supplier has had its top ownership change, as HBO & Company lined up to be purchased by giant drug wholesalers McKesson Corp. HBOC is already a $1.2 billion concern that includes the Amisys managed healthcare applications, so you know McKesson has got to weigh in pretty large to manage to buy them out. Analysts were wondering what HBOC was thinking — the company has posted earnings growth of about 50 percent consistently. One analyst thought HBOC was expecting a downturn in the health care information industry. Sales don’t show it, as the latest HBOC quarter set new earnings and revenue records. HBOC president Bruce McCall said selling out to the maker of surgical gloves and an automated pharmacy dispensing system would be good for HBOC customers, who will now do business with McKesson HBOC. McCall said the two companies’ products used together could drive down the $330 billion in inappropriate or avoidable healthcare utilization — so HMOs could look toward better financial and clinical performance. McCall will be chairman of the new entity. McKesson has 35,000 group practice customers, a ripe market for solutions such as the Amisys software running on HP 3000s. Copyright 1998 The 3000 NewsWire. All rights reserved