A nonprofit duo won a bid to buy St. Christopher's Hospital for Children out of bankruptcy, edging out for-profit hospital operator KPC Global, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The nonprofit team of West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health and Drexel University in Philadelphia agreed to purchase the Philadelphia-based children's hospital for $50 million.
"This will ensure that the hospital remains a vital resource to families in North Philadelphia and throughout the city and region and that Drexel's medical education training program at the institution will continue," Drexel President John Fry wrote in an email to faculty obtained by the Inquirer.
The sale agreement, expected to be finalized later in the day Sept. 20, still needs to be approved by a bankruptcy court.
Drexel and Tower Health, which have an existing 20-year academic affiliation agreement, will both own 50 percent of St. Christopher's.
St. Christopher's was up for sale to the "highest and best" bidder after its owner, El Segundo, Calif.-based American Academic Health System, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 1.
The hospital had received two takeover bids, one from Tower Health and Drexel and another from Santa Ana, Calif.-based KPC Global.
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