Medical Equipment Firm Deal:

Life Support Products Inc. of Irvine, a maker of emergency medical and respiratory equipment, has inked a tentative agreement to be acquired by a Missouri competitor.

It was not immediately known if Life Support Products will be moving to the headquarters of St. Louis-based Allied Healthcare Products Inc.

“It has not been decided yet,” said Robert A. Hovee, chief executive for Life Support Products, which employees 95 people. “We are still in due diligence.”

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The companies have been negotiating for several months and hope to complete the deal by the end of the year, Hovee said.

With 1992 revenue of $12 million and a profit of $1 million, Life Support Products would add “accelerated growth’ to Allied Healthcare Products and would be able to “advance its research and development projects,” Hovee said.

Life Support Products makes ventilators and other products that are found in paramedic ambulances, including spine immobilizers, anti-shock pants, and vertical extraction stretchers for injured people trapped in confined spaces.

As a wholly owned subsidiary, Life Support Products would benefit from Allied Healthcare’s extensive hospital and home care distribution channels.

Allied Healthcare, which had fiscal 1993 profit of $6.7 million on revenue of $61 million, would also expand its product line from respiratory and medical gas equipment.

“There is a lot of synergy between the two companies,” Hovee said.