Private-equity firm Veritas Capital and hedge fund Elliott Management have agreed to acquire U.S. health-care software maker Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN) for about $5.7 billion in cash, the companies confirmed on Monday.
Reuters had reported the deal was in the works on Sunday.
Athenahealth, whose cloud-based service is used to track revenue from patients, physicians and hospitals, had been under pressure to sell itself from Elliott, which has about a 9% stake in the company.
As part of a restructuring effort this year, it has cut jobs and hired former General Electric (NYSE: GM) Chief Executive Jeff Immelt as chairman.
Said Immelt, "After a thorough strategic review process, we have decided to enter this agreement with Veritas, which we believe maximizes value for our shareholders and accelerates our goal to transform health-care.
"Combining with Virence will create new opportunities for collaboration and growth. Operating as a private company with Veritas's ownership and support will provide athenahealth with increased flexibility to achieve our purpose of unleashing our collective potential to transform health-care."
The acquisition values Athenahealth at $135.00 per share in cash.
The purchase price represents a premium of approximately 12% over the company's closing stock price on November 9, the last trading day prior to today's announcement, and a premium of approximately 27% over the company's closing stock price on May 17, 2017.
Shares leaped $11.47, or 9.5%, to $131.82 Monday
