CDI-Insight Merger Promises Bigger Presence, Bigger Opportunities

With leverage provided by a private financier, the Center for Diagnostic Imaging of Minneapolis, MN will merge with Insight Imaging of Lake Forest, CA, forming an imaging chain that extends through half the country.Based on last year's numbers of imaging centers by chain, the combined CDI-Insight chain will be second only to RadNet in number of individual centers nationwide. Black Diamond Capital Management bankrolled the transaction with the purchase of a majority stake in CDI from Onex and will hold a majority share of the new entity. The deal should be finalized by July 2012. The combined enterprise will retain a presence in California, but will be headquartered in Minneapolis, led by CDI CEO Tom Tomlinson, who will assume that role for both companies. Tomlinson told Imagingbiz in an e-mail that the two companies having complementary geographies was an important first step in the merger, as the combined central operations will continue uninterrupted by the deal. “What’s challenging in any organizational merger is maintaining culture and focus as transitions, such as moving from two corporate teams to one merged team, begin to take shape,” Tomlinson wrote. Although the new entity will operate across 116 fixed imaging centers and 90 mobile ones, CDI-Insight isn’t aiming to be the biggest kid on the block, he wrote. Still, the advantage that comes from the combined resources of an entity of its size should allow it to drive more favorable payor relationships, expanded clinical services, and better efficiencies. “We believe there is stability in that shared effort, regardless of what name is on the door of the center in which we work,” he said.