Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe portfolio company Quest Diagnostics is to acquire Solstas Lab Partners Group and its subsidiaries for a total transaction value of approximately USD570m.
Solstas is a full-service commercial laboratory company based in Greensboro, North Carolina. The company operates in nine states throughout the south-eastern US, including the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
"This acquisition represents an exciting opportunity for Quest and Solstas as well as our patients and customers in the region. Solstas has excellent client relationships and local presence in the Southeast, and we expect to build on the value of these assets with our broad and innovative test menu, scientific expertise and health IT solutions," says Steve Rusckowski, president and CEO, Quest Diagnostics. "This combination will translate into better healthcare for the region because it will improve access to innovative, cost-effective diagnostic information services for patients, physicians and hospitals."
"Strategic partnerships between innovative laboratory providers is of critical importance during these changing times and most often result in superior, value-based solutions for customers," says David C Weavil, CEO, Solstas Lab Partners. "Quest has established itself as a trusted provider of innovation and quality solutions. We believe it is the right organisation to help Solstas enhance and extend its services for physician practices, hospital systems and, most importantly, their patients."
Quest Diagnostics expects the transaction to add approximately five per cent in annualised revenues, about one per cent of which will be from professional lab services, and be modestly accretive to adjusted earnings per share in 2014. The company expects to complete the acquisition in the first half of 2014, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
