Abbott agreed on Thursday to acquire St. Jude Medical for $25 billion, bringing together two manufacturers of devices for cardiovascular disease.

In combining the two, Abbott and St. Jude Medical will capture a larger position across the market for cardiovascular devices, the two Midwestern companies said in a news release. They expect sales in that market to be about $8.7 billion if the transaction is completed.

The deal shows Abbott’s appetite for acquisitions after agreeing to acquire Alere about three months ago for $5.8 billion. Since then, the transaction has gotten somewhat messy, with Alere delaying its annual filing and announcing a Department of Justice investigation for operations in foreign markets. When asked on the earnings call last week whether Abbott was committed to completing the deal, Miles D. White, Abbott’s chairman and chief executive, declined to comment.

As was the case with Alere, Abbott is offering a premium for St. Jude Medical. Under the agreement, St. Jude Medical shareholders will get $46.75 in cash and 0.8708 shares of Abbott, amounting to about $85 a share. That represents a 37 percent gain from St. Jude Medical’s closing stock price on Wednesday. In the Alere deal, the premium was more than 50 percent.