Surgery Partners shares jump 21% in premarket trade on $6 bln Bon Secours deal

Surgery Partners shares jumped more than 21% in premarket trading on Monday after the Financial Times reported that the surgical care provider said it agreed to be taken private by Bon Secours Mercy Health, in a deal valuing it at about $6 billion including debt.

Bon Secours, one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the United States, would buy a majority stake at about $20 a share, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.  

Bain Capital, a shareholder since 2017, would keep its almost 40% stake.

The $6 billion figure includes $3.5 billion of debt. Before Monday’s jump, the shares had fallen 31% over the past year to just under $16, which put the company’s stock market value at nearly $2.1 billion.

Last year, Surgery Partners walked away from a deal led by Bain to take it private at a higher valuation of $6.7 billion including debt. A sale would end more than a year of stop-start efforts to sell the company.

Surgery Partners operates 176 surgery centres and hospitals across 30 U.S. states. Bon Secours runs 47 hospitals in the United States and Ireland and had about $14 billion in revenue last year. The deal would speed up its expansion into outpatient care.

Ascension, another Catholic non-profit, struck a $3.9 billion deal earlier this year to buy surgical care provider Amsurg, a similar business.