Tenet Healthcare close to buying United Surgical Partners for more than $2.5 bn

23 Mar 2015

US hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp is close to buying surgical facility operator United Surgical Partners International Inc in a deal that could be valued at more than $2.5 billion including debt, The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

United Surgical Partners, which is controlled by private-equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, owns and operates more than 200 short-stay facilities in the US having more than 9,000 physicians and almost one million patients each year.

The Texas-based surgical facility operator has joint-venture partnerships with more than 3,000 physicians and over 30 health systems nationwide. The company posted revenues of $641 million last year.

Tenet Healthcare owns and operates 80 acute-care hospitals in 14 states and over 200 outpatient centres. It also operates outpatient centres in 16 states.

The Dallas-based company has grown through acquisitions, but became the third-largest investor-owned healthcare services companies in the US after its $1.7 billion purchase of Nashville-based Vanguard Health Systems in 2013.

A successful deal would allow Tenet Healthcare to expand in the mid-west as well as take advantage of President Barack Obama's overhauled Affordable Care Act.