US: Apollo to buy LifePoint Health in US$5.6b deal

Apollo Global Management will buy LifePoint Health in a US$5.6 billion deal that will expand its rural US hospitals business, the latest in a series of bets by private-equity firms on health care.

The deal comes as Tennessee-based LifePoint and many of its peers face higher medical costs, fewer patient admissions and changes to reimbursement policies in Medicare and Medicaid that have pressured profits.

However, to compensate for the downturn, LifePoint has been beefing up its presence in rural regions including in Pennsylvania and Tennessee and streamlining operations at health-care facilities there.

The deal will bring together LifePoint and Apollo’s RCCH HealthCare Partners, LifePoint said in a statement, confirming a Reuters report on Friday that the parties were in advanced talks for a buyout.

Apollo’s deal, its biggest this year, is the latest in a recent surge in public investments by US private equity, the highest since the 2007-08 global financial crisis.

Full Content: Market Watch

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