Greenwood Village-based Emergency Medical Services Corp. agreed Monday to a $3.2 billion leveraged buyout by a private equity investor.
Under the transaction, EMS shareholders will receive $64 a share and the company will become privately owned by New York-based Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC.
Some analysts said they expected a higher price for EMS.
The company operates AMR, the largest private ambulance provider in the nation. AMR has about 18,500 employees nationwide. EMS also owns EmCare, a medical personnel staffing service; and Air Ambulance Specialists, which operates out of Centennial Airport.
EMS employs 250 people at its Greenwood Village headquarters and 150 in AMR’s Denver operations center.
Its shares fell $7.74 Monday, 11 percent, to $62.92. Before Monday, the stock had risen 31 percent since Dec. 13, the day before EMS had announced it was exploring “strategic alternatives” to increase shareholder value.
“We believe we have delivered full value to our shareholders” under terms of the buyout, EMS chairman and chief executive William Sanger said Monday. He said Clayton, Dubilier & Rice “re-energizes the balance sheet and provides the resources to grow the company.”
Sanger said no management changes are expected. Clayton, Dubilier & Rice has managed $15 billion in investments in 48 U.S. and European companies since 1978.
Aaron Todd, chief executive of Arapahoe County-based air-ambulance company Air Methods Corp., said the deal “shows there’s a lot of interest in the emergency transport industry.”
Todd said federal health-care reform could benefit the industry by providing revenue to ambulance companies that sometimes receive no reimbursement for transporting uninsured patients.
At least two law firms announced Monday that they will investigate to determine whether EMS breached its fiduciary duty to shareholders by not adequately shopping the company and getting a better deal.
EMS was formed in 2005 when Toronto-based investment firm Onex Corp. purchased AMR and EmCare for $820 million from school-bus operator Laidlaw International.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com
