(Reuters) – Healthcare provider Ardent Health said on Wednesday it has set the pricing of its initial public offering below its targeted range to raise around $192 million.
The Nashville, Tennessee-based company which was aiming to price its offering between $20 and $22 apiece, sold about 12 million shares at $16 per share. The IPO values Ardent Health at about $2.3 billion.
The company said it intends to use the IPO proceeds for working capital, to acquire complementary businesses, products, services or technologies, and for general corporate purposes which may include repayment of debt and capital expenditures.
Ardent is the fourth-largest privately held, for-profit operator of hospitals and a healthcare services provider in the U.S., according to the filing.
It has 30 acute care hospitals and more than 200 sites of care with over 1,700 providers across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, New Jersey, Idaho and Kansas.
Public markets in the U.S. have seen an influx of IPOs in the last few months, after a dry spell of nearly two years, as expectations of a soft landing for the economy encourage companies to list their shares.
The firm is expected to debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the symbol “ARDT”.
J.P.Morgan, BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters for the IPO.
(Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K and Rashmi Aich)
