Baxter to buy Gambro in deal worth $4B

DEERFIELD, Ill., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. medical treatment firm Baxter International said Tuesday it would buy Swedish firm Gambro, also a medical equipment producer, for $2.8 billion.

Including debt, the value of the deal jumps to $4 billion, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Baxter's Chief Executive Officer Robert Parkinson Jr. said the deal "further strengthens our global dialysis offerings by extending our portfolio in a hemodialysis segment."

Gambro is owned by EQT and Investor AB, both Swedish investment firms, which paid $4.7 billion for the company in 2006.

Baxter is buying only a portion of that, as Terumo of Japan bought Gambro's Caridian BCT division in 2011 for about $2.6 billion.