Humana, Private-Equity Firms Agree to Buy Kindred Healthcare

Kindred Healthcare Inc. said Tuesday that it will be acquired by insurance giant Humana Inc. and two private-equity firms in a deal valuing the firm at $783.2 million.

Humana, together with TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, will pay $9 a share for the home-health and hospice operator, representing a 4.7% premium from the last trading day before The Wall Street Journal reported the companies were in advanced talks. Including debt, Kindred said the deal is worth $4.1 billion.

Shares in Kindred fell 5.3% to $9 in premarket trading. The stock has climbed 21% so far this year.

Upon closing of the deal, Kindred's home-health, hospice and community-care businesses will be separated and operated as a stand-alone company. The private-equity firms will own 60% of the company, and Humana will own 40%.

The Kindred deal comes on the heels of CVS Health Corp. reaching an agreement earlier this month to buy Aetna Inc. for $69 billion in cash and stock. Humana rival UnitedHealth Group has also been looking to purchase doctor groups, urgent-care clinics and surgery centers in a bid to combine insurance operations with other health-care businesses.

Kindred is the biggest home-health and hospice operator in the U.S. Its facilities business, meanwhile, includes around 77 long-term care hospitals and 19 rehabilitation hospitals.

Kindred's 2015 acquisition of Gentiva Health Services Inc. left the company with a heavy debt load, leading it to shed its nursing homes to improve its finances.

Humana, like Kindred based in Louisville, Ky., already has some home-health operations, and has said it wants to get deeper into that business as a way to better manage the health of its Medicare enrollees. The insurer has said it believes closer ties to home-health services and physicians will help it improve care and hold down costs.

Write to Imani Moise at imani.moise@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 19, 2017 09:41 ET (14:41 GMT)