Radiology software business Sectra bought British health IT firm Burnbank Systems Ltd and related firms for up to $12 million in an effort to beef up its UK presence, the Swedish company announced Thursday.

According to a news release, Sectra is paying 5 million British pounds ($7.7 1 million) with an "additional purchase consideration" of 3 million pounds ($4.62 million). Sectra said it finished the deal Wednesday.

The purchase includes three related companies: Burnbank Systems Ltd., Burnbank Healthsystems Ltd. and Burnbank Data-connect Ltd., all based in Ipswich. Burnbank has 25 employees, and reported 2.4 million pounds ($3.7 million) in sales last year, Sectra said.

Sectra said the acquisition was one part of a two-pronged approach to grow its foothold in the UK. Burnbank runs a medical image and report transfer network in Great Britain that's used by 290 hospitals, which Sectra said covers much of the publicly run National Health Service.

In a separate announcement, Sectra revealed the second prong of their approach, which is recruiting an imaging development team in the UK to deliver an integrated RIS/PACS product.

"These two developments will deliver an end to end integration of the PACS & RIS, provide a seamless workflow as patients are transferred between different sites and will also provide support for teleradiology and hosted automated diagnostic services," Sectra said.

Sectra, based in Linköping, Sweden, sold its mammography division to Royal Philips Electronics last year.

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