HMA Shareholders Approve Merger with CHS
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Shareholders for Health Management Associates Inc. voted to adopt the previously announced merger agreement with Community Health Systems Inc. of Franklin, Tenn., the companies announced Wednesday.
According to a joint statement, HMA shareholders approved the transaction with approximately 98.7% of the votes cast at today’s special meeting voting in favor of adoption of the merger agreement. The votes cast in favor of the merger represented about 81.7% of HMA’s outstanding common shares as of Nov. 22, 3013, the record date for the special meeting.
HMA operates 71 hospitals in 15 states representing approximately 11,000 licensed beds. CHS, though its subsidiaries, owns, leases or operates 135 hospitals in 29 states representing about 20,000 aggregate beds.
CHS shareholders were not required to approve the merger, CHS spokeswoman Tomi Galin said. Subject to customary closing conditions, the receipt of regulatory approvals and the absence of “certain adverse developments,” the deal is expected to close by the end of January.
Locally, CHS operates ValleyCare Health System of Ohio, which has hospitals and other health-care facilities in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. In August, a proposed acquisition of Sharon Regional Health System in Sharon, Pa. became public.
In responding to an inquiry from The Business Journal, he spokesman for Sharon Regional Health System, Ed Newmeyer, said officials are "conducting due diligence and confidential negotiations over the final terms of the agreement. We anticipate having a definitive agreement in place in the near future, and will have further information to provide when that process is completed."
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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