Kindred: To Commence Tender Offer To Acquire Gentiva Shares For $14.50 Apiece

(RTTNews) - Kindred Healthcare Inc (KND) said that the company on Tuesday will commence a cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Gentiva Health Services Inc (GTIV), together with the associated preferred share purchase rights, for $14.50 per share in cash, for a total equity value of about $573 million. With the assumption of Gentiva's debt, the deal would be valued at about $1.7 billion.

The offer represents a 70 percent premium to Gentiva's closing share price on May 14, 2014 (the day prior to Kindred making public its proposal to acquire Gentiva).

In light of the Gentiva Board's recent implementation of a poison pill (also known as a "shareholder rights plan"), Kindred intends to amend the offer to seek to purchase 14.9% of Gentiva's outstanding shares and become Gentiva's largest shareholder.

The purchase of these shares is subject to certain conditions being satisfied at the time the offer is scheduled to expire, including a majority of outstanding shares being validly tendered and not withdrawn.

Kindred will extend the offer for at least 10 business days following the announcement of any such amendment and return any previously tendered shares so as to allow shareholders to decide whether to participate in the amended offer.