D.Logistics AG of Germany and Global Healthcare Exchange, LLC have announced that they are to merge their respective European operations, PLC GmbH (PLC) and Global Healthcare Exchange BVBA, to create a single electronic marketplace for European healthcare. D. Logistics and GHX LLC will each own 50 percent of the newly formed company, which will be called Global Healthcare Exchange Europe GmbH. The combined operations of the new company will serve more than 450 hospitals and 70 suppliers in Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria and Belgium, making it Europe’s largest electronic trading exchange for healthcare, both in terms of the number of participants and countries served. Current and future customers will be able to conduct e-commerce with more trading partners through a single exchange portal, avoiding the costs associated with establishing multiple connections. "As one company, we will continue to operate an open and neutral exchange, while enhancing our ability to meet customer needs," said Norbert Kruchen, current PLC general manager who will serve as chief executive officer of GHX Europe. "This merger is exactly what the European healthcare market needs and what my organization has been waiting for," commented Detlef Bruer from the Department of Human Medicine, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. "With one exchange offering, we now have a clear choice as to the e-commerce solution that can deliver the most value now and in the future." Frank Brueggemann, chief operating officer of GHX Europe and the current GHX BVBA sales and marketing director in Germany, added, "We can effectively increase the scope of hospital and supplier participation in a single e-procurement solution because there was little duplication among the customer base or geographic markets of the two companies." PLC and GHX BVBA began working together more than a year ago, when they established electronic connectivity between their two exchanges. For the immediate future, suppliers and hospitals currently participating in either GHX BVBA or PLC will continue to conduct business through the respective exchanges as they have in the past. However, over the next few months, GHX Europe says it will develop plans to fully merge the two exchanges. GHX Europe says it will remain a privately held company open to all supply chain participants, with clear guiding principles and a business model designed to improve supply chain efficiencies for all involved Global Healthcare Exchange BVBA (http://wwww.ghx.com) is a neutral trading exchange through which hospitals can purchase both medical and non-medical products more easily, quickly and accurately than ever before. GHX is open to all members of the supply chain, with a product range specifically adapted to the requirements of large, mid-sized and small suppliers and hospitals alike. PLC GmbH is a leading service provider for electronic data communications in healthcare. The company (www.plc-net.de) was founded in January 1999 and offers a communications network for active electronic communications between more than 60 suppliers, medical and pharmaceutical wholesalers as well as more than 320 hospitals over Europe
