HealthSouth (Birmingham, Alabama) in late April said it will sell its diagnostic division to The Gores Group (Los Angeles) for about $47.5 million.

HealthSouth said that over the past 12 months it has realized $20.5 million in cash in connection with the divestiture of a number of individual diagnostic imaging facilities, as well as various equipment and assets owned by the division. The deal is expected to close by the end of June or early 3Q07.

HealthSouth’s diagnostic division is comprised of a network of 54 freestanding diagnostic imaging centers in 19 states and the District of Columbia. About 80% of the centers are multi-modality, offering a combination of outpatient diagnostic imaging services, including MRI, computed tomography, X-ray, ultrasound, mammography, fluoroscopy, and nuclear medicine services, the company noted.

Jay Grinney, HealthSouth president/CEO, said the sale “reflects continued progress in our strategic repositioning of HealthSouth as a post-acute healthcare provider, focusing on inpatient rehabilitative services. We have now entered into definitive agreements for the sale of all three of our ambulatory divisions. As with the sale of the other two divisions, the proceeds from this transaction will be used to pay down a portion of our long-term debt.”

The Gores Group describes itself as a a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing business.