The Federal Trade Commission said last week that Surgery Center Holdings and Symbion Holdings must divest ownership of a Florida ambulatory surgery center as part of an antitrust settlement with the state of Florida, according to a report from Law 360. Here are five things to know about the settlement.
1. After the state of Florida sued to block the merger between Surgery Partners and Symbion, the FTC ordered Symbion to divest its ownership of Orange City-based Blue Springs Surgery Center to an FTC-approved buyer. Blue Springs Surgery Center is located one mile from a Surgery Center Holdings-owned surgery center. According to the FTC, Symbion must complete divestiture to merge with Surgery Partners.
2. The FTC's complaint, brought against Surgery Center Holdings Parent Company HIG Bayside Debt and LBO Fund II, alleged the proposed merger would reduce competition in Orange City and Deltona, combining the only two multispecialty ASCs in the area and eliminating choice for patients and commercial health plans.
3. According to the FTC, the divestiture will prevent anticompetitive business that might occur between the two ASCs as a result of the merger. The two ASC companies must "hold separate the management, and maintain the competitiveness, of the Blue Springs Surgery Center, until the divestiture is complete," said the FTC in a statement.
4. Florida has also filed another civil antitrust suit against the parent companies of Symbion and Surgery partners — Crestview Partners and HIG Capital, respectively — to stop the finalization of the merger. Whether this suit will be affected by FTC's settlement is unclear at this time.
5. The consent agreement between the FTC and the surgery center companies will remain open for public comment on the Federal Register until Dec. 2, after which the FTC will decide whether or not to finalize the deal.
Note: As of Nov.5, Surgery Partners has completed its acquisition of Symbion.
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