Henry Schein acquires France dental distribution business of Sirona Dental Systems

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC), the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners, announced today that it has acquired Sirona Direct, the France dental distribution business of Sirona Dental Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRO). With sales of approximately $14 million, Sirona Direct is the exclusive distributor of dental equipment for Sirona Dental Systems in Paris and Normandy. In addition to its acquisition of Sirona Direct, Henry Schein has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with Sirona Dental Systems for the promotion and distribution of Sirona's full line of dental equipment, including the CEREC CAD/CAM system, to practitioners in most of France, including the Paris region.

Over the past several years, Henry Schein has acquired other businesses in France with exclusive regional distribution agreements for products manufactured by Sirona Dental Systems.  These acquisitions, coupled with the acquisition and distribution agreements announced today, establish Henry Schein as Sirona Dental Systems' exclusive distributor to practitioners across most of France.   

"We are pleased to exclusively represent Sirona's high-quality, innovative products across the vast majority of France," said Vincent Junod, Vice President, Henry Schein Europe Dental, Western Region, and Managing Director, Henry Schein France. "France is an important and growing dental market, and Henry Schein is committed to providing the French dental community with a comprehensive offering to meet all of its practice needs.  Sirona's innovative products are an important part of our ConnectDental® platform, which is designed to bring the latest digital dental solutions to the practitioners we serve in this quickly changing dental marketplace."

Sirona Direct has headquarters in Paris and a showroom in Rouen. The company will become part of Henry Schein France, which has served dental practitioners in the country for more than two decades. Financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Henry Schein expects the transactions to be neutral to its earnings per share for the balance of 2014.

France is one of the largest European markets for dental products, with approximately 36,000 dentists serving a population of approximately 65.7 million people.