Private equity giant KKR & Co. has inked a deal to acquire Nashville-based Envision Healthcare Corp. for about $5.5B in cash. Counting the assumption of debt, the transaction is valued at $9.9B, making it one of the largest recent leveraged buyouts, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The company specializes in providing physician services to hospitals, but it is also a significant owner of healthcare property.
Namely, Envision is a major player in ambulatory surgical care, owning and operating 261 surgery centers and one surgical hospital in 35 states and the District of Columbia, including space for such specialties as gastroenterology, ophthalmology and orthopedics.
In physician services, the company focuses primarily on emergency department services, anesthesiology, radiology/teleradiology and children’s services. It provides service to more than 1,800 clinical departments in healthcare facilities in 45 states and D.C.
Envision essentially auctioned itself, with its board reaching out to 25 potential buyers before selecting KKR. Over the past year, shares of Envision had fallen about 23% due to disappointing performance.
The company was formed in 2016 through the merger of Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc. and AmSurg Corp., which contributed the ambulatory surgery centers to the combined company, Modern Healthcare reports. AmSurg also bought physician staffing giant Sheridan Healthcare in 2014 for more than $2B.
Once the KKR acquisition is finalized, Envision will become a private company, and its stock will no longer be traded on the New York Stock Exchange. KKR is making the investment primarily through its KKR Americas Fund XII.
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