Ambulatory Services taps Morgan Stanley to explore sale: sources

Ambulatory Services of America Inc, a U.S. operator of healthcare facilities controlled by private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg LLC, has appointed Morgan Stanley to explore a sale, three people familiar with the matter said this week.

The Nashville, Tennessee-based company may fetch between $700 million and $800 million based on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of around $75 million, two of the people said on condition of anonymity because the sale process is confidential.

Ambulatory Services of America and Morgan Stanley declined to comment, while Lindsay Goldberg did not respond to requests for comment.

Ambulatory Services of America manages 85 dialysis programs in 13 U.S. states that provide care to approximately 7,000 patients. It also manages 17 radiation oncology centers in five states.

Lindsay Goldberg, a New York-based buyout firm with about $10 billion of capital under management, invested $75 million in Ambulatory Services of America in 2008, two years after the medical facility company was founded by former Renal Care Group chief operating officer Timothy Martin.

Martin joined Renal Care Group, a dialysis services provider, in 1997, and left the company when rival Fresenius Medical Care AG agreed to buy it in 2006 for $4 billion.

(Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)