Envision Said to Attract Buyout Interest From Carlyle, Onex

(Bloomberg) -- Envision Healthcare Corp., the health-services provider under pressure from activist investor Starboard Value, has attracted buyout interest from Carlyle Group LP and a group including Onex Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

Onex has formed a consortium with peers Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Hellman & Friedman to bid for the company, while Carlyle is bidding alone, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. There’s no guarantee considerations will lead to a deal, the people said. Envision said Oct. 31 its board is considering options to enhance shareholder value.

Envision shares rose as much as 14 percent after being temporarily halted, the biggest gain since August 2015. They traded up 6 percent to $27.44 at 1:59 p.m. in New York.

Spokesmen for Envision, Carlyle, CD&R and Hellman & Friedman declined to comment. A representative for Onex didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Starboard revealed a stake Envision in October and recommended the company as an attractive takeover target. The fund, led by Jeffrey Smith, owns 2.2 percent of Nashville-based Envision, according to a regulatory filing Monday.

Envision offers surgery, pharmacy, medical imaging, emergency care and other related health-care services to patients in the U.S.

Starboard was founded in March 2011 through a spinoff from Cowen Group’s Ramius LLC. The firm has a track record of pursuing activist campaigns against companies that don’t heed its initial advice or demands.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kiel Porter in New York at kporter17@bloomberg.net, Scott Deveau in New York at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net, Ed Hammond in New York at ehammond12@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Aaron Kirchfeld

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