MEDICAL products group Amersham is to be taken over by US conglomerate General Electric in a £5.7bn deal, the companies announced yesterday.

Buckinghamshireshire firm Amersham, which is listed on London's FTSE 100 Index, is a specialist in products for disease detection and medical research.

The offer price of 800p a share represents a premium of more than 45 per cent on the Amersham share price prior to bid speculation earlier this week, when shares in the group rose by a quarter after the approach.

Amersham employs more than 10,000 people worldwide and had sales of £1.6bn last year.