Allscripts In Play
Zina Moukheiber, Contributor
Forbes
9/28/2012 @ 5:53PM
Not surprisingly, rumors have surfaced that Allscripts has put itself up for sale, suddenly sending its languishing stock up 17.5% over the past two days to $12.42. According to Bloomberg, the electronic health records vendor has held talks with private equity firms, including Blackstone Group, which acquired revenue cycle firm Emdeon last year.
Allscripts has been struggling with the integration of Eclipsys, since acquiring the hospital EHR vendor two years ago. Net earnings for the first half of 2012 fell nearly 52% to $13.7 million; revenues were off 27% to $87.2 million. Its stock price dropped by as much as 45% last April, when the board fired chairman Phil Pead, and CFO Bill Davis resigned, as well as three board members who didn’t agree with the decision to terminate Pead.
Allscripts has been trailing competitors, even as government subsidies of electronic health records have boosted the valuation of Cerner and athenahealth, making it a potential acquisition target. Blackstone bought Emdeon at nearly 12 times EBITDA; Allscripts is trading at 10.
Taking Allscripts private will certainly ease the pressure on chief executive Glen Tullman to publicly report quarterly earnings, but could also spark interest from other quarters. Oracle anyone?
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