(Bloomberg) -- TowerBrook Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice are in talks to team up and launch a rival takeover bid for health-care IT provider R1 RCM Inc., people familiar with the matter said.
The private equity firms are discussing financing options for a potential offer, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.
Any bid would compete against a $13.25-a-share proposal made by New Mountain Capital, which, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, is R1 RCM’s largest investor with a roughly 32% stake.
Shares in Salt Lake City-based R1 RCM have risen about 25% this year. The stock was up 3% to $13.21 shortly after the start of trading in New York on Friday, giving the company a market value of about $5.6 billion.
TowerBrook is R1 RCM’s second-largest shareholder with an interest of about 30%, the data show.
New Mountain and TCP-ASC, an investment vehicle jointly owned by TowerBrook and Ascension Health Alliance, previously discussed a joint bid for R1 RCM but failed to reach an agreement, according to a filing this month. At that point, New Mountain opted to go it alone with its offer.
Deliberations between TowerBrook and CD&R are ongoing and there’s no certainty they’ll decide to proceed with a bid, according to the people. New Mountain could also opt to increase its offer price, they said. A spokesperson for TowerBrook declined to comment. Representatives for R1 RCM and CD&R didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
R1 RCM is a so-called revenue cycle management company, which helps health-care providers get paid for the services they offer.
--With assistance from John Sage.
(Updates with share move in fourth paragraph.)
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