Here are five recent private equity deals, finalized or rumored, that ASCs are eyeing:
1. Walgreens Boots Alliance is reportedly considering selling itself to private equity firm Sycamore Partners and becoming private, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 10. The deal could be inked as early as next year if negotiations move forward, sources familiar with the matter told the Journal.
2. In November, Private equity-backed healthcare clinic Forward announced plans to close its doors just a year after raising $100 million in a Series E funding round.The primary care clinic started as a mall kiosk in Roseville, Calif., in 2017, led by high-profile executives from Google and Uber.
3. In October, financially troubled Steward Health Care finalized the sale of its physician group to Nashville, Tenn.-based primary care provider Rural Healthcare Group, part of private equity firm Kinderhook Industries. The health system entered into a definitive agreement in August to sell the physician group, known as Stewardship Health, to Rural Healthcare Group for a reported $245 million cash deal.
4. Also in October, Charlotte, N.C.-based independent practice Tryon Medical Partners finalized a deal with private equity firm TPG in September, six years after breaking away from Atrium Health.The deal gives TPG a stake in the business side of the practice, including billing, human resources, operations and technology. Tryon Medical, which serves about 200,000 patients in 10 clinics, will continue to be physician-owned and operated.
5. Optum's ASC arm, SCA Health, and private equity firms, including TPG, are reportedly a potential buyer of Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners, according to Bloomberg. Surgery Partners, the third-largest ASC operator in the U.S., oversees more than 160 centers and 4,600 affiliated physicians. The company merged with National Surgical Healthcare in 2017, and Bain Capital later acquired a stake from H.I.G. Capital.