The Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C-based buyout company, is putting together a consortium of private equity buyers to acquire California's Heritage Provider Network in a deal that could be worth up to $10 billion, according to a Nov. 15 Reuters report.
Northridge-based Heritage, founded by physician Richard Merkin, MD, who remains the majority shareholder, has been on the lookout for a suitor for over a year, based on a Bloomberg report from October 2021. Heritage is a powerhouse provider of primary care in its home state, serving about 700,000 individuals there with a significant footprint also in Arizona and New York.
Such large-scale private equity or corporate-backed acquisitions of sprawling primary care operations are increasingly commonplace in the healthcare sector. Earlier this month, Primary care disruptor VillageMD, which is majority owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance, agreed to acquire physician practice group Summit Health in a transaction worth roughly $8.9 billion.
Neither Carlyle nor Heritage responded to a request for comment at time of publication.