Nuance targets medical transcription with $300M Transcend acquisition

Continuing its trend of large company purchases, the voice recognition company Nuance announced today that it will purchase Transcend, a popular medical transcription company, for $300 million in cash.

The deal follows Nuance’s recent purchases of rival Vlingo and the alternative keyboard company Swype. The company has built up a habit of acquiring smaller companies to expand its voice-technology portfolio, but it has been criticized for bullying some of those companies through lawsuits. Its technology also rose to prominence recently since it powers Apple’s virtual assistant Siri.

“The acquisition of Transcend will expand the delivery of our innovative voice and Clinical Language Understanding solutions especially to small- and mid-size hospitals,” said Janet Dillione, Nuance’s general manager of Healthcare and executive vice president, in a statement today. “With Transcend, we will drive change and improvement to the way these hospitals capture and leverage clinical information. The acquisition is a natural extension of Nuance’s existing healthcare business, and will strengthen our solution and services portfolio, as well as enhance our profitability.”

Nuance says that it will acquire Transcend at $29.50 per share, a 30 percent premium over the company’s average share price from the past 90 days. Both boards have already approved the merger, and Nuance says it expects the purchase to add between $140 million and $150 million in revenue for the fiscal year 2013.

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