(Includes acquisition closing)
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
The Federal Trade Commission ordered Universal Health Systems
Inc. (UHS) to sell 15 psychiatric facilities to win approval for
its $2 billion acquisition of rival Psychiatric Solutions.
The takeover was closed soon thereafter.
The agency said the deal, as originally proposed, would have
combined the two largest providers of acute inpatient psychiatric
services in Delaware, Puerto Rico and metropolitan Las Vegas.
Acute inpatient psychiatric services are intensive hospital
services provided to patients who pose a danger to themselves or
others or are unable to perform basic functions because of an acute
psychiatric episode. Psychiatric Solutions's business is managing
psychiatric units for other hospitals and government agencies. It
specializes in treating children with behavioral or mental
illnesses.
The FTC voted 5-0 that Universal Health must sell two inpatient
hospitals in Las Vegas, one in Delaware, and one inpatient hospital
and 11 affiliated outpatient clinics in Puerto Rico to buyers it
approves.
-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2357;
kathy.shwiff@dowjones.com