Nuance buying Focus Infomatics for $58m

Nuance Communications Inc. said today it is buying Focus Infomatics Inc. for $58 million in as part of its effort automate manual transcription in the healthcare industry.

Nuance, based in Burlington, provides speech and imaging solutions. Focus Infomatics has offices in Woburn and specializes in transcription and speech-recognition editing services.

"By combining Nuance's premier speech technology and Focus' proven services, we expect to accelerate our objective to eliminate manual transcription," Nuance chief executive Paul Ricci said in a statement.

Nuance expects the acquisition to add between $7 million and $9 million in Dictaphone healthcare revenues in fiscal 2007 and between $18 million and $22 million in fiscal year 2008.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)