HIG in $278m healthcare take-private

HIG Capital has agreed to take private Allion Healthcare in a $278 million deal that includes the assumption of $79 million in debt.

It will pay $6.60 per share for the NASDAQ-listed company, which provides pharmaceuticals and disease management services to HIV/AIDS and chronically ill patients in the US. The price represents a 30.2 percent premium to Allion’s average share price based on the five days preceding disclosure of the deal.

Expected to close in the first quarter of 2010, the transaction is subject to customary closing, regulatory and antitrust approvals. A majority of Allion shareholders must approve the deal; roughly 41.1 percent have already agreed to vote in favour of the merger, according to a statement.

HIG closed its fourth mid-market private equity fund on $750 million in 2006. Its other healthcare-related portfolio companies include generic drugs distributor Harvard Drug Group, the second largest such company in the US.

The firm closed a €600 million European fund in July 2007. Its distressed debt affiliate, Bayside Capital, closed a $3 billion fund last year.