The proposed merger of Emageon and Health Systems Solutions has been terminated.
New York-based HSS announced on Wednesday that its financing firm, Stanford International Bank, Ltd., would not be able to come up with the money to complete the deal, which had been scheduled to close that day. On Thursday, Emageon announced that the deal was off and that it had taken possession of $9 million put into an escrow account.
HSS had agreed last Oct. 14 to pay $62 million, or $2.85 a share, for the Birmingham, Ala.-based healthcare IT provider. Emageon shareholders agreed to the merger on Dec. 18. Later that month, company officials accused HSS of "stalling" after it appeared that HSS didn't have the money to complete the deal. The two sides then set a closing date of Feb. 11 and added $4 million to the $5 million already set in an escrow account in the event the merger failed.
Emageon, launched in 2000 out of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, provides IT systems for hospitals, healthcare networks and imaging facilities, with solutions that include RadSuite and HeartSuite. The company merged with UltraVisual Medical Systems of Wisconsin in 2003.
