Physician services firm TeamHealth bought by Blackstone for $6.1 billion.
Under the terms of the agreement, Blackstone and its co-investors will pay $43.50 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of TeamHealth.
Investment firm Blackstone will buy Knoxville, Tennessee-based physician services organization TeamHealth Holdings in a deal worth $6.1 billion, TeamHealth announced Monday.
Under the terms of the agreement, Blackstone and its co-investors will pay $43.50 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of TeamHealth common stock. TeamHealth shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As of Monday afternoon, the company's stock price was up nearly 6 percent to $42.78 a share.
The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017.
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However, the merger agreement includes a "go-shop" period, during which TeamHealth and its board of directors may potentially enter negotiations with parties that offer alternative proposals for the next 40 days.
TeamHealth will become a privately-held company once the deal closes.
Team Health previously was owned by various private-equity firms for a decade, including Blackstone, which bought the company for $1 billion in 2005 from a group of investors and then took it public in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"As a prior owner of TeamHealth, Blackstone knows TeamHealth and the U.S. healthcare industry well and will work with us to create value for all our stakeholders over the long-term," said Lynn Massingale, co-founder and executive chairman of TeamHealth.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
