Breast MRI Navigation software Image source: Sentinelle Medical

Hologic has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sentinelle Medical, a provider of MRI breast coils, tables and visualization software.

The purchase price for the transaction will be $85 million, plus a two-year contingent earn out. The earn out will be payable in cash installments equal to a multiple of the incremental revenue growth in Sentinelle’s business in the two years following the closing, according to the Bedford, Mass.-based Hologic.

Hologic predicted that the transaction will close during the third calendar quarter and is subject to customary closing conditions, including, among others, Sentinelle stockholder approval and Canadian judicial approval.

Sentinelle, a privately-held medical imaging company headquartered in Toronto, develops breast imaging technologies using high-field strength MRI. The developer is currently an industry partner with GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare and Toshiba America Medical Systems.

Sentinelle’s revenue in calendar 2009 was approximately $15 million. Hologic expects this acquisition to be neutral to earnings in fiscal 2011, absent the amortization of intangibles related to the transaction and other acquisition-related charges.