METI bought for $130 million

SARASOTA — Medical Education Technologies Inc. (METI) will be acquired by CAE Healthcare, a subsidiary of Canada-based CAE (symbol: CAE), for $130 million.

Sarasota-based METI designs and builds software and simulators for medical teaching. Its simulators are designed to mimic medical emergencies for training purposes. Roughly 6,000 METI simulators are in use today in medical schools and hospitals across the globe, the company estimates.

CAE specializes in modeling, training and simulation for civil aviation and defense. Its focus on simulation makes it a match with METI, but its entry into the health care space represents a new market for the Canadian company, which generated $1.6 billion in revenues in its 2010 fiscal year.