Sonic Healthcare Limited, Australia, plans to acquire Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii and its associated anatomical-pathology practice, Pan Pacific Pathologists (collectively known as CLH), for some $121 million.
CLH will become a new division in Sonic Healthcare USA’s group of labs.
“The acquisition of Clinical Laboratories of Hawaii further expands Sonic’s footprint in the US laboratory marketplace, and offers synergies with our existing operations in terms of purchasing, esoteric testing, and sharing of best-practice systems and laboratory protocols,” said Colin Goldschmidt, MD, Sonic’s CEO and managing director. “CLH is a high-quality laboratory with a stable growth profile, sound financial performance, and with culture and values very similar to those of Sonic.”
CLH operates more than 70 locations in Hawaii and employs more than 900 professional, technical, and support personnel, offering analytical and clinical services. Its prospective annual revenue tops $110 million.
The debt-free purchase price equates to a prospective EBITDA (post-synergies) multiple of about 6.2 times, after allowing for the net-present value of tax deductions for goodwill amortization—spanning 15 years—of some $19 million; $3 million of the purchase price is subject to earn-out arrangements. The acquisition will be funded in US dollars from Sonic’s syndicated senior-debt facility and will be immediately earnings-per-share accretive.
The transaction should finalize by September 2008, pending US anti-trust approval and other statutory notifications to the state of Hawaii.
Moon Park, MD, who founded CLH in 1971, will serve as a consultant, and Alyssa Park, the company’s current CEO, will stay on.
CLH has regularly increased it market share through hospital-lab service agreements and continued expansion into the outreach market, and its infrastructure on each of the Hawaiian islands positions the company for continued incremental growth, company officials said.
