Athenahealth Agrees To Be Acquired By Veritas And Evergreen For About $5.7 Bln

(RTTNews) - athenahealth Inc. (ATHN) said that it agreed to be acquired by Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital for about $5.7 billion in cash.

As per the terms of the agreement, athenahealth shareholders will receive $135 in cash per share. The per share purchase price represents a premium of approximately 12 percent over the company's closing stock price on November 9, 2018, the last trading day prior to today's announcement, and a premium of approximately 27 percent over the company's closing stock price on May 17, 2017, the day prior to Elliott Management Corporation's announcement that it had acquired an approximate 9 percent interest in the company.

Following the closing, Veritas and Evergreen expect to combine athenahealth with Virence Health, the GE Healthcare Value-based Care assets that Veritas acquired earlier this year. The combined business is expected to be a privately-held healthcare information technology company.

The combined company is expected to operate under the athenahealth brand and be headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts. The company will be led by Virence Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bob Segert and an executive leadership team comprised of executives from both companies.

Following the completion of the transaction, Virence's Workforce Management business will become a separate Veritas portfolio company under the API Healthcare brand.

Upon completion of the transaction, Elliott's private equity subsidiary, Evergreen Coast Capital, will retain a minority investment stake in the combined company.