Radiology Partners, North America's largest medical imaging provider, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Everlight Radiology, a London-based teleradiology business serving hospitals and imaging centres across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

The Australian Financial Review placed the purchase price at approximately $715 million (€660 million), citing anonymous sources familiar with the agreement. Everlight was founded in 2006 and employs more than 800 radiologists across 40 countries under a follow-the-sun model, handling roughly 2.5 million reports a year. London private equity firm Livingbridge is the seller, having paid about $344 million (€317 million) for a majority stake in 2021.

"Everlight has an unmatched global network of subspecialty radiologists, built over 20 years," said Rich Whitney, chairman and chief executive of Radiology Partners. "Together, we can bring the best of what each has built to a growing number of patients and hospitals, delivering more advanced technology, deeper subspecialty support and higher standards of care in every market in which we operate."

"We are thrilled to be joining Radiology Partners, a move that will provide our radiologists and our clients access to additional clinical depth, technology and investment at a scale that would take years to build alone," said Everlight global chief executive Rob Anderson.

The structural driver is a widening mismatch between imaging demand and radiologist supply across Everlight's markets. In Australia, diagnostic imaging volumes under the Medicare programme rose 40 percent over the past decade, with advanced imaging growing nearly twice as fast as the radiologist workforce.

Radiology Partners, founded in 2012, employs over 4,000 radiologists across more than 3,400 client sites and previously built its US remote-reading business through the $885 million purchase (€817 million) of Mednax's imaging unit in 2020. The group plans to extend its AI-assisted Mosaic Drafting tool to Everlight readers once regulatory clearances are secured, while Everlight continues under its existing management team.

For the sector, the deal signals that scaled teleradiology platforms are consolidating internationally to address radiologist shortages that no single national market can resolve alone.

Source: radiologybusiness.com