The FTC signed off on private-equity firm KKR's plan to buy Envision for $46 per share.
A plan to turn Envision Healthcare Corp. into a private company has cleared a key regulatory hurdle.
The company, which provides physicians to hospitals, is moving forward with the $9.9 billion deal after the Federal Trade Commission signed off last week on the plan. The arrangement must still secure the go-ahead from holders of a majority of Envision's common stock before it can be finalized.
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Envision has yet to announce the date of its annual meeting, when shareholders are expected to vote on the plan. But the company said last month that it would hold the meeting no later than October 1, with the expectation that the deal would be completed by the end of the year.
In a preliminary proxy statement filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Envision President and CEO Christopher A. Holden and Board Chairman William A. Sanger urged shareholders to vote in favor of the deal, which calls for private-equity firm KKR & Co. to pay $46 per share—about 5.4% more than closing price on the Friday before the deal was announced.
Since there are more than 125 million shares of Envision common stock, the cash deal is valued at $5.6 billion. The valuation is $9.9 billion, counting debt, as Reuters reported.
Envision was one of two healthcare companies to break onto the Fortune 500 list in May, ranking 198th, behind Tenet Healthcare Corp and Community Health Systems but ahead of Universal Health Services, LifePoint Health, and Kindred Healthcare.
Steven Porter is an associate content manager and Strategy editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.