Manor Shareholders To Vote on $6.3B Buy-Out

TOLEDO, OH-A special meeting of the stockholders of Manor Care Inc. has been scheduled for Oct. 17, at the company’s headquarters at 333 N. Summit St., for a vote on whether to allow the $6.3-billion purchase of the company by the Washington, DC-based Carlyle Group. The investment group has proposed to buy the company for $67 per share. The company’s stock price was $65.57 at the end of the trading day Thursday.

Manor Care, a subsidiary of the public HCR Manor Care, has a network of more than 500 skilled nursing and rehabilitation centers, assisted living facilities, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and hospice and home care agencies across the country. The company operates primarily with the names Heartland, ManorCare Health Services and Arden Courts.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter 2007, and is being financed through a combination of commercial mortgage-backed securities, other debt financing and equity provided by Carlyle.

A spokesman with Carlyle says his firm has expertise with handling healthcare firms. “We understand the nature of a healthcare investment, and we believe this is a well-run company. The management will stay in place,” the spokesman tells GlobeSt.com. He also says growth of the company’s portfolio will continue. “Nursing homes are a very fragmented industry. Manor Care is one of the largest in the country in this business, and there’s many small ones, leaving potential for acquisitions.”

There has been some opposition to the deal, by the Service Employees International Union, which has been trying to organize Manor Care’s 60,000 employees. Union officials have staged protests across the country at various Manor Care locations, and are opposed to taking the public company, which accepts social service funds, into the private sector. “Medicare and Medicaid resources that are intended to support vulnerable Americans are being diverted to the private benefit of wealthy investors,” said SEIU international secretary treasurer Anna Burger in letter