The purchase price for Waterbury Hospital and its affiliated businesses is $100 million in a proposed sale to a Los Angeles corporation, documents filed with state regulators show.
The price was included in a preliminary merger application filed with the state Department of Health and the attorney general, by the Greater Waterbury Health Network, which is seeking a merger with Prospect Medical Holdings.
The total price is the same that was offered by Tenet Healthcare, a Texas-based chain that tried to buy Waterbury and four other hospitals, but exited in December after the health department proposed conditions Tenet deemed onerous.
The figure was in a document dated Thursday, which was released Friday by Greater Waterbury Health. The hospital’s CEO praised the sale to Prospect, which owns 13 hospitals.
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“Prospect is an innovative healthcare company that will provide the expertise and resources to help us strengthen and enhance access to the delivery of high quality, cost-effective services for the community,” CEO Darlene Stromstad said in a written statement. “We are excited to be moving this partnership forward.”
Prospect and Waterbury first announced their intent to seek a merger deal in May. The Los Angeles for-profit hospital chain is the third company to express interest in Waterbury Hospital over the last five years and the most recent since the Tenet deal fell through.
Tenet offered $45 million as the purchase price, plus $55 million in promised capital improvements. The breakdown in the Prospect merger is expected to be similar but is still being worked out, a Waterbury Hospital spokeswoman said Friday.
The Tenet deal was structured differently, with Waterbury Hospital retaining a 20 percent ownership interest. Prospect would own all assets in the new agreement.
The state hospital industry has been subject to a wave of mergers and partnerships as groups look to lower costs. On Wednesday, the boards of directors for both Yale New Haven Health System and Lawrence + Memorial Healthcare approved an affiliation agreement, while Thursday brought news of a potential partnership between Hartford HealthCare and Day Kimball Healthcare.
Greater Waterbury Health Network has scheduled a public hearing Aug. 5 to share transaction details and to collect community feedback, at the Waterbury Marriott, 63 Grand St., Waterbury.
Date: July 17, 2015