ROCHESTER, N.Y. and Toronto, Canada, Jan. 10 – Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Health Group to Onex Healthcare Holdings, Inc., a subsidiary of Onex Corporation (TSX: OCX).

Under terms of the agreement, Kodak will sell its Health Group to Onex for $2.35 billion, with an optional payment of up to $200 million more if the unit achieves certain return-on-investment goals, with the potential sale being $2.55 billion.

About 8,100 employees associated with the Health Group will continue with the business following the closing of the sale. Included in the sale are manufacturing operations focused on the production of health imaging products, as well as an office building in Rochester, N.Y.

DOTmed News was invited to participate in today's 11 am webcast in which the deal was announced by Robert M. Le Blanc, Onex Corporation managing director, and Kevin Hobert, president of Kodak's Health Group.

“This is a great opportunity to acquire and grow a business that has established an impressive record in delivering innovative solutions to customers around the world,” said Robert M. Le Blanc of Onex. “Kodak’s Health Group has an exceptionally strong management team and we share this team’s vision for the future. We recognize that growth is critical and that digital technology is the future, and we believe strongly that customers and employees must continue to be a top priority.”

"There's a certain liberating feeling…in moving from being a division within a company to being a stand-alone entity and that's what we're becoming," said Kodak's Kevin Hobert during the webcast. The company will not be commingled with Onex's other healthcare companies (listed below), according to Le Blanc.


DOTmed News was invited to sit in on the webcast
announcing the sale of Kodak's Health Group.
Kevin Hobert(l), President of the Health Group, and
Robert Le Blanc(r), Managing Director, Onex Corporation,
held an online Q&A session with the media.

Hobert and Le Blanc responded to several online questions put to them by DOTmed News and other media outlets. For example, DOTmed News asked "Would the name Kodak be part of the new company?" The executives said that the new entity will be given new name, and that they were considering a name-changing contest (the Kodak name will be used until the sale is finalized in a few months).

Kodak Spokesman Robert Salmon confirmed that they will continue to license Kodak brands and subbrands such as CARESTREAM, DIRECTVIEW and DRYVIEW. "We will be selling those products which customers have come to know and look for," Salmon said.

DOTmed also got the executives to state the new company will also continue to support film customers. "There's a huge market for film…. We will be making film well into the future," Hobert said. "We're offering our customers a lot of great solutions to help move them to digital at all price levels and for all applications. We'd love to convert every customer to our digital solutions, we'd love to help them improve the quality and cost of their care but [we] also love to provide film."

Onex brings significant financial resources to invest in the Health Group and to ensure its continued success. Le Blanc said the new company will probably invest more in R&D "for a more wholesome product line."

Kodak’s Health Group, with revenues of $2.54 billion for the latest 12 reported months (through September 30, 2006), is a worldwide leader in information technology, molecular imaging systems, medical and dental imaging, including digital x-ray capture, medical printers, and x-ray film.

Onex Corporation, based in Toronto, is a diversified company and is one of Canada’s largest corporations, with annual consolidated revenues of approximately C$20 billion and consolidated assets of approximately C$20 billion. Onex has global operations in health care, service, manufacturing and technology industries. The health care operations include emergency care facilities and diagnostic imaging clinics.

Subject to regulatory and other approvals, it is anticipated that the sale will close in the first half of 2007. Kodak’s previously announced investor meeting is scheduled for February 8.

Other companies owned by Onex Corporation involved in healthcare are:

-Emergency Medical Services Corporation, a leading U.S. provider of ambulance transportation services and assistance with emergency department physician staffing and management.

-Center for Diagnostic Imaging, Inc., a leading provider of diagnostic and therapeutic radiology services in the United States.

-Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., an organization of leading skilled nursing and assisted living facility operators in the United States, specifically in California, Texas, Kansas and Nevada.

-Res-Care, Inc., a human service company that provides residential, therapeutic, job training and educational support to people with developmental or other disabilities.