A Medical Device Daily

HealthSouth (Birmingham, Alabama) reported a definitive agreement to 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 companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of June or early in the 3Q07.

HealthSouth's diagnostic division is comprised of a network of 54 freestanding diagnostic imaging centers in 19 states and the District of Columbia. While not all services are provided at all sites, 80% of the centers are multi-modality facilities offering a combination of outpatient diagnostic imaging services, including MRI, CT, X-ray, ultrasound, mammography, fluoroscopy, and nuclear medicine services, the company noted.

Jay Grinney, HealthSouth president/CEO, said that 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."

HealthSouth will provide certain corporate support services to the new company for an interim period of time.

Deutsche Bank Securities served as HealthSouth's financial advisor for the transaction.

HealthSouth provides healthcare services with a focus in the inpatient rehabilitation industry.

Founded in 1987, The Gores Group is a private equity firm focused on acquiring controlling interests in mature and growing businesses, which can benefit from the firm's operating experience and flexible capital base.

VantageMed (Rancho Cordova, California) reported that its stockholders have approved the previously disclosed merger of VantageMed with an entity controlled by Nightingale Informatix (Markham, Ontario), with VantageMed as the surviving entity (Medical Device Daily, Feb. 21, 2007). VantageMed is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Nightingale. VantageMed stockholders will receive 75 cents a share. As a result of the merger, VantageMed's common stock will no longer be publicly traded, and the company will no longer file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

VantageMed is a provider of healthcare software products and services to more than 18,000 physician, anesthesiologist and behavioral health providers nationwide.