The sale of yet another Nashville company has slipped by under the radar. This time it’s American Esoteric Laboratories, a local clinical testing company that was acquired late last week by Sonic Healthcare, a firm based in Sydney, Australia.
The transaction carried a price tag of $180 million. Assuming it’s approved, the deal is expected to close by the second week in January
This deal marks the second U.S. acquisition for Sonic Healthcare, which acquired Austin, Texas-based Clinical Pathology Laboratories in October of 2005. The company manages subsidiaries in Europe and Asia as well.
AEL is run by longtime healthcare exec Brian Carr. Carr is a veteran of other testing companies like Pathology Consultants, which merged with PathSource in 2000 to form Inform DX where he served as the CEO. In addition he also spent time with PhyCor. In 2003, he founded AEL with Jim Billington, who currently serves as the company’s president and COO.
AEL had equity backing from ABS Capital Partners and Oak Investment Partners, which shared an 80 percent stake in the company.
According to a statement released by Sonic Healthcare last Friday, the company plans to operate its U.S. subsidiaries, both CPL and AEL, according to what it calls a “federation” model, leaving the management autonomy and regionalized services intact.
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“You don’t typically see international companies participating in healthcare services,” said Carr, who spoke with NashvillePost.com this afternoon. “That aspect really is unique.” He went on to say that the combined company, which will boast annual revenue of some $300 million, presents a wonderful opportunity for international cross-sharing in healthcare services.
Carr has signed a 90-day consulting agreement with Sonic Healthcare, which has said it will maintain operations at AEL’s three primary facilities in Memphis and Morristown, Tenn., as well as the Tyler, Texas facility AEL acquired in September. He also said that much of the management structure and AEL’s roughly 700 employees would remain in place.
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