Teledyne Technologies agreed to buy Varex Imaging in an all-cash deal worth $18.90 a share, the companies announced this week, valuing the transaction at roughly $1.1 billion once Varex's equity awards and net debt are factored in, according to the companies' joint announcement. Varex shares jumped nearly 48% on the news.
Varex makes X-ray tubes and digital X-ray detectors, along with high-voltage interconnects and imaging software, that go into medical scanners and industrial and security-screening equipment built by other manufacturers. The company's more recent push into photon-counting CT detectors — a next-generation technology that improves image resolution while reducing radiation dose — was central to Teledyne's rationale. Reporting on the deal noted the acquisition hands Teledyne the only commercially ready independent supplier of photon-counting CT detectors, a technology that industry giants GE HealthCare and Siemens Healthineers are still developing in-house.
Teledyne, a Thousand Oaks, California-based maker of sensors, imaging and instrumentation systems, said Varex's product line has minimal overlap with its existing detector and vacuum-electronics businesses, positioning the combined company to expand further into medical imaging and industrial inspection. The offer represented roughly an 88% premium over Varex's share price before the announcement and came in above the average analyst price target of $18, which had reflected a mostly "hold" consensus on the stock ahead of the deal.
Both companies' boards approved the transaction unanimously. It still requires approval from Varex shareholders and clearance from antitrust regulators, and the companies expect it to close in early 2027. Until then, Varex will continue to operate as a standalone, publicly traded company.
If completed, the deal would fold one of the last independent players in X-ray imaging components into a larger diversified technology supplier, continuing a wave of consolidation in the medical- and industrial-imaging equipment market. Teledyne has built much of its recent growth through acquisitions across sensing, instrumentation and imaging, and analysts covering the sector have said demand for advanced detector technology is climbing as hospitals, airport security operators and manufacturers replace older X-ray equipment with higher-resolution digital systems.