DENTSPLY International Inc. recently announced it has acquired the partial denture business of Austenal Inc. in a cash transaction valued at approximately $18.3 million. The acquisition is expected to add approximately $20 million to DENTSPLY's annual sales. It is expected that this acquisition will be slightly accretive to earnings per share in 2002. Headquartered in Chicago, Ill., Austenal manufactures dental laboratory products and is a world leader in the manufacture and sale of systems used by dental laboratories to fabricate partial dentures. The company's Vitallium(R) product is recognized worldwide as a leading partial denture casting alloy.

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