Asahi Kasei said it would acquire U.S.-based Zoll Medical, a maker of resuscitation and critical care devices used in emergency settings, for approximately $2.21 billion. Asahi Kasei will pay $93 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of Zoll common stock, which represents a 24 percent premium to Zoll’s closing price on March 9, the day before the offer was announced. Zoll is a market leader in the resuscitation sector and has a strong international market presence.

A leading Japanese manufacturer of industrial chemicals and synthetic fibers, Asahi Kasei has identified healthcare as a key growth sector for the company in which it aims to advance through organic growth, targeted acquisitions, and strategic alliances. It teamed up with Zoll in the summer of 2011 and was granted exclusive rights to market and distribute Zoll’s automated external defibrillator in Japan, the first such device in Japan with a function to support CPR that incorporates voice guidance and message displays.

Zoll also markets a defibrillator vest that can be worn by patients at risk of cardiac arrest, a non-invasive cardiac support pump, and temperature management technologies to keep core body temperature stable in critically ill patients.

Acquiring Zoll makes a lot of sense for Asahi Kasei, especially as aging populations tend to require more emergency services, especially when it comes to cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Japan has the world’s largest proportion of citizens over the age of 65.

"In the medical devices business, the U.S. market leads the world, not only in size and scope, but also in technological innovation, so establishing a strong infrastructure in the U.S. is an important step for Asahi Kasei," says Taketsugu Fujiwara, president of Asahi Kasei. “This transaction will allow us to build on Zoll’s strong U.S. business position and its technology leadership, with Zoll forming the cornerstone of our critical care business. Together we will pursue new opportunities in the high-growth markets of Asia,” he says.

The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by the end of the second quarter of 2012. When completed, Zoll will become a wholly owned subsidiary within the Asahi Kasei Group, with its current management team and business units and operations remaining intact.

Asahi Kasei says it plans to make more strategic investments to accelerate Zoll’s leadership in the world in resuscitation technologies, and to build on the Zoll platform to achieve Asahi Kasei’s long-term strategic objective of creating a globally competitive health care business with a focus on the field of critical care. Asahi Kasei already has an established healthcare business that includes pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and bioprocess products.

The company aims to triple its healthcare revenues to $6.1 billion by 2020 in a global market for critical care products that is estimated at $48 billion and is growing at 7 percent a year, according to Bloomberg.

Asahi Kasei joins a growing list of Japanese companies that have been building their healthcare businesses through medical device and equipment acquisitions, a sector expected to see significant growth as the number of older people continues to grow worldwide. In 2011, these deals included Terumo’s $2.6 billion deal to buy U.S. medical device company CardianBCT, which raised its ranking in the global blood transfusion market; Fujifilm’s $1 billion purchase of SonoSite for its point-of-care ultrasound technology; and Sony’s acquisition of Micronics, a privately held maker of devices used for disease diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and blood testing. Johnson & Johnson grew its share of the orthopedic device market in April 2011 with its $21.6 billion acquisition of Swiss medical device maker Synthes.