SOFTWARE group Sage last night announced its largest acquisition to date.

The Newcastle company has agreed to acquire health software unit Emdeon Practice Services (EPS), which is based in Florida, for £297m from US parent company Emdeon Corporation.

It is Sage's fifth major deal this year and the group said it had hundreds of millions of pounds still available to continue its acquisition programme.

The purchase of EPS, which provides software and services to doctors and small clinics across the US, will see Sage move away from its traditional model of buying accountancy software companies to gain market share and new territories.

Sage said the deal, which is expected to be completed by next month, will form the basis of a doctors' practice division, which it will expand.

Paul Walker, Sage chief executive, said: "Acquiring Emdeon Practice Services enables Sage to market its products and services to a substantial new community of small and medium-sized businesses in the US.

"This acquisition continues our strategy of providing industry-specific solutions, by bringing dedicated Sage solutions to this business sector for the first time."

Sage has already made eleven major acquisitions in the US since the early 1990s. Business there accounted for 41 per cent of the group's revenue last year.

Sage, which employs 10,500 staff globally, including about 1,110 in Newcastle, sells accountancy software and other services to five million small and medium-sized firms.

Earlier this year, it walked away from a £400m bidding war for a rival Norwegian business after its £334m offer was beaten by private equity firm Hg Capital.

Yesterday, finance director Paul Harrison said: "We have several hundred million pounds available and acquisitions will continue to form part of our strategy."