Kindred Reiterates Offer to Buy Gentiva

The ever-persistent Kindred Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE:KND) has yet to be deterred in its ongoing quest to purchase Gentiva Health Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:GTIV), as it reiterated its offer to buy the company Tuesday.

As previously announced last week, Kindred is willing to enter into a negotiated agreement to acquire all of Gentiva’s outstanding shares for a price of $17.25 per share in cash. The company also stated that is prepared to enter into appropriate confidentiality and standstill agreements in order to facilitate such discussions.

“We are as committed as ever to reaching agreement on a value-creating combination of Kindred and Gentiva, and we stand ready to quickly execute an all-cash transaction with no financing condition,” stated Kindred CEO Paul Diaz in a release.

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The Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred affirms it has the resources to fund an all-cash transaction that follows its proposal of buying Gentiva for $17.25 per share.

Gentiva, who has rebuffed numerous offers from Kindred dating as far back as May, may have other plans in the works.

Earlier this month, the Atlanta, Ga.-based national home health and hospice provider’s board of directors unanimously rejected a previous offer from Kindred, which proposed to acquire 14.9% of the outstanding shares of Gentiva for a price of $16 per share in cash.

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Simultaneously within that same announcement came news that Gentiva had received an alternative proposal from an unnamed mystery bidder—one that analysts have pegged as a private equity firm in response to Gentiva’s description that the bidder is a “recognized owner, operator and investor” in the sector.

Last week, Gentiva stated it has entered into a confidentiality agreement with this “recognized” entity and that its Board will review the proposals from both the mystery bidder and Kindred, as well as any other proposals it might receive.

“The Board believes that it is in the stockholders’ best interest to allow both parties access to due diligence to encourage them to increase the value of their proposals to levels that will deliver full value to Gentiva stockholders,” Gentiva stated in a release.

Any alternative proposal that would interfere with Gentiva remaining as a publicly owned company must deliver “full value” to its shareholders, the company added.

Kindred is determined such value and more can be delivered to Gentiva than any other alternative.

“Given that Kindred and Gentiva have complementary assets and geographic footprints, Kindred believes it could realize more synergies than any other strategic bidder,” stated Kindred. ” In addition, Kindred believes that the sale of Gentiva for $17.25 per share will deliver far greater value to Gentiva shareholders than the continued execution of Gentiva’s standalone plan. Accordingly, Kindred expects that , with due diligence, it will be best positioned to provide the greatest value to Gentiva shareholders.”

The company has already received antitrust approval for its proposed combination with Gentiva.

“We are eager to work with Gentiva, and look forward to entering into appropriate confidentiality and standstill agreements so that we can start the due diligence process,” Diaz stated. “We are confident that constructive dialogue between our two companies will allow us to deliver the value inherent in the proposed combination to our respective shareholder groups, as well as our patients and employees.”

Written by Jason Oliva

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