Hospital chain operator
The details are not public and the source declined to be named.
The company and selling shareholders plan to sell 124 million shares for $27 to $30 each, raising up to $3.7 billion. In May, HCA filed to raise up to $4.6 billion.
Of the 124 million shares to be sold, HCA will sell 87.7 million and current shareholders will sell 36.3 million. Most of the shares to be sold by shareholders will come from the private equity owners.
The company is expected to price the offering on March 9, the source said.
HCA, which operates more than 160 hospitals in the United States and England, was taken private in November 2006 in a $21 billion deal that included Bain, KKR, Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and HCA’s founder.
Since May, HCA has paid more than $4 billion in dividends to its owners, removing some of the immediate financial pressure for an IPO.
Underwriters on the IPO are being led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and JPMorgan. The shares are expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “HCA.”
The hospital operator is the most recent in a slew of buyout-backed offerings to come to market in the United States.
Dutch chipmaker
Private equity firms are eager to begin the process of exiting portfolio companies bought at the height of the buyout boom of 2005 to 2007. The window for such exits was closed during the financial crisis.
Clare Baldwin is a Reuters journalist in New York.