BROCKTON — Who will buy three local hospitals run by bankrupt Steward Health Care? Bankers marketing the facilities say they have at least 20 interested buyers.
The investment bank Cain Brothers said in a bankruptcy court filing that it pitched 45 potential buyers. Twenty of those prospects were intrigued enough to sign “non disclosure agreements” which let them see closely guarded Steward financial info while they kick the tires. An unspecified number of suitors has filed “indications of interest” that go into more detail about possible deal structures, Cain said in the same filing.
Cain is marketing Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton, Morton Hospital in Taunton and Saint Anne’s in Fall River, plus others outside Massachusetts. A different bank is trying to sell Steward’s other Massachusetts hospitals.
Steward has set a goal of selling its Massachusetts hospitals by the end of June.
Nurses asks state to step up if no one wants to buy Steward hospitals
A lot of people and organizations have a stake in the future of the community hospitals. Among them are Steward employees represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). The union on Friday called on state officials for a more muscular — and more public — plan in case no one wants to buy some of the hospitals.
“These are such essential community services, literally life or death for hundreds of thousands of people,” said Dana Simon, director of strategic campaigns for the MNA.
Here’s what the nurses union wants the state to do:
- He said the MNA wants the the state to be ready to put in its own bids if the private market fails.
- He also urged the state to use its power of “imminent domain” to acquire the nine hospitals for a fair market value, not the arguably inflated prices Steward received in 2016 when it sold the hospitals’ buildings and land to Medical Properties Trust of Alabama for $1.25 billion. Simon said the assessed value of the properties is one-third or one-fourth what MPT paid.
- Thirdly, Cain pushed state officials to pause approvals for benefits being sought by Massachusetts’ other hospital operators until they pitch in to help the troubled community hospitals.
Cain said it’s possible that state officials are prepared to do each of those things, but aren’t saying it publicly. State officials have cited non-disclosure agreements they say keep them from going into further detail in public.
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