Olympus acquires Gyrus for £936m

Digital camera company

, whose medical diagnostics division is based in Watford, is buying Wokingham medical imaging and device company

for nearly £1bn.

The companies said that merging their complementary capabilities would create what they dub a true 'see and treat' provider. The combined company would be well positioned to benefit from the continuing shift towards minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Brian Steer, chairman of Gyrus, said: 'This highly attractive offer presents an outstanding opportunity for our stakeholders with the certainty of cash at a significant premium for our investors. Gyrus has grown rapidly to become a profitable FTSE 250 company driven by the excellence of its PK (Gyrus’s tissue management toolset) technology and its position in the US.

‘The technology behind our energy based products is robust and our commercialisation strategies are appropriate. However, the evolution of minimally invasive surgery will increasingly involve the combination of both energy and visualisation, which Gyrus and Olympus bring to this transaction.'

Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, president of Olympus, said: 'The operations of Gyrus and Olympus's Medical Systems Business are highly complementary and I am confident that this planned partnership will generate significant synergies and opportunities for both firms. The combination of technological capabilities will further enhance product systems which I expect to enable surgeons and their staff to ultimately perform safer and more effective surgical procedures with better patient outcomes.'