Siemens Healthineers signs $169 million partnership with British hospital trust

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Siemens Healthineers has signed a strategic partnership worth around 140 million euros ($169 million) with a British hospital operator to supply medical imaging gear for the next 15 years, a spokesman confirmed on Thursday.

Under the contract signed with Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, the German health technology company will install 350 pieces of new medical equipment and provide training and technical support.

So-called value partnerships are a part of Siemens Healthineers' strategy to lock in long-term sales contracts to ride out bumps in the economic cycle.

Chief Executive Bernd Montag said last November that order intake for major long-term contracts rose to around 1 billion euros in its fiscal year 2020.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust operates nine hospitals and employs more than 21,000 staff.

($1 = 0.8268 euros)

(Reporting by Alexander Huebner and Caroline Copley; Editing by Maria Sheahan)