Two companies to buy Atlanta's NDCHealth for $1 billion

<p>NDCHealth, a provider of software for health-care claims processing, will be purchased for $1 billion by two other firms, including Alpharetta-based Per-Se Technologies, the companies announced Monday.</p><p>Per-Se, which sells medical claims processing services, is purchasing the Atlanta-based company's physician, hospital and retail pharmacy business lines for about $665 million. In a separate transaction, a Dutch company named Wolters Kluwer is buying NDCHealth's pharmaceutical information management business for $382 million.</p><p>The transactions are subject to regulatory approval, and Per-Se and NDCHealth shareholders must vote on it as well. That process is expected to take three to six months, said Philip Pead, Per-Se's chief executive. Pead said the companies offer complementary services, but said no decisions have been made about office closings or layoffs.</p><p>NDCHealth is a 28-year-old company with 1,600 U.S. employees.</p><p>----</p><p>On The Net</p><p>HASH(0x1cda3ec)</p><p>HASH(0x1cda494)</p><p>HASH(0x1cda578)</p>

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