N.Y. private equity firm pumps $75 mln. into new local hospital company

New York-based private equity firm JLL Partners has said it will invest $75 million in Attentus Healthcare, a new locally based hospital company aimed at buying small rural hospitals. JLL’s investment

Email | Print By Paige Orr

01-27-2004 12:00 AM — New York-based private equity firm JLL Partners has said it will invest $75 million in Attentus Healthcare, a new locally based hospital company aimed at buying small rural hospitals.

JLL’s investment in Attentus is its third investment in a hospital company. One was Charlie Martin’s OrNda Healthcorp, which was sold to Tenet Healthcare in 1997 for $3.3 billion. The second was Franklin-based Iasis Healthcare, which recently has been rumored to be up for sale or considering an initial public offering.

The JLL investment in Attentus makes up the majority of the $77 million raised by two health care veterans, Richard Gore and Robert Yeager, co-chief executive officers of Attentus who also hold a significant equity stake in the new company. Clayton McWhorter’s Clayton Associates also is participating in early-stage capitalization with a $2 million commitment.

In 1996, Gore co-founded Province Healthcare and became chief financial officer there. He previously served as vice president and controller of Quorum Health Group and earlier had held a variety of management positions with HCA.

Yeager co-founded OrthoLink Physicians Corp. and served as its CEO before selling the company to United Surgical Partners International. He previously held the positions of executive vice president and CFO of Quorum. Like Gore, Yeager’s health care background includes several management positions with HCA.