EGI to Acquire Majority Stake in Ardent Health Services

Healthcare real-estate investment trust (REIT) Ventas (Chicago, IL, USA) has signed an agreement with Equity Group Investments (EGI; Chicago, IL, USA) to sell its majority stake in Ardent Health Services (AHS; Nashville, TN, USA) for USD 475 million.

AHS, which provides healthcare services, is claimed to be one of the ten largest investor-owned hospital companies in the US, operating in the Amarillo (TX, USA), Tulsa (OK, USA), and Albuquerque (NM, USA) areas, with 14 hospitals and three multispecialty physician groups in operation. The facilities include acute-care, heart, rehabilitation, and women’s-health hospitals, totaling 2,045 hospital beds. Ventas will retain a 9.9% interest in AHS, with current AHS management continuing to hold a significant ownership interest. It currently reports USD two billion in annual revenues.

Ventas bought hospital operator Ardent Medical Services (Nashville, TN, USA) for USD 1.75 billion in cash in April 2015. The company retains the owned real estate, selling the hospital operations part of the former Ardent Medical Services to the newly formed AHS. EGI is a private investment firm founded in the 1960’s by Sam Zell. The EGI investment portfolio ranges across industries such as energy, logistics, communications and transportation, but also includes in fixed-income investments in public and private companies.

“With Ardent, we are well positioned to grow in the large, fragmented and rapidly consolidating USD 1 trillion domestic hospital segment,” said Debra Cafaro, CEO of Ventas. “We believe that hospitals will continue to be at the core of the healthcare delivery system, supported by attractive demographics, policy and an improving economy, which we expect will expand the ranks of insured individuals and improve provider revenues.”

“With these strong partners of EGI and Ventas, we believe we can build upon our success and provide additional capital to our facilities and expand into new service areas,” said David Vandewater, president and CEO of Ardent. “This new partnership will be a significant benefit to hospitals, health systems and communities across the country.”

Related Links:
Ventas
Equity Group Investments
Ardent Health Services