Athenahealth to Acquire Mobile Health Leader Epocrates
Acquisition will accelerate athenahealth’s vision to build the nation’s health information backbone; companies will combine forces to redefine physician mobile experience and point-of-care toolset
Watertown, Mass. -- athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination services to medical groups and health systems, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Epocrates, Inc. a mobile health pioneer widely recognized for developing the most-widely adopted point-of-care medical application among U.S. physicians.
The board of directors of each of athenahealth and Epocrates has agreed to a price of $11.75 per share, in cash, for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $293 million. The purchase price represents a 22 percent premium over the closing price per share of Epocrates on NASDAQ on Friday, January 4, 2013. This is an all-cash offer for all outstanding shares of Epocrates’ common stock, and athenahealth intends to finance this acquisition using available cash and funds available from its existing credit facility. The closing of the transaction is subject to the approval of Epocrates shareholders and other customary closing conditions and is currently expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2013. Epocrates shareholders representing approximately 17.5% of the outstanding common stock have agreed to vote their shares in favor of the transaction.
Over the past 15 years, athenahealth has been evolving industry-leading, Best in KLAS* cloud-based services that help medical caregivers do well doing the right thing—keeping them focused on patient care. With the acquisition of Epocrates, which is used and trusted by more than 330,000 physicians, athenahealth believes it will be able to better serve an expanded network of providers. athenahealth plans to build upon Epocrates’ success to date in transforming the way physicians access and engage with clinical information, with each other, and with their patients.
“I have been an admirer of Epocrates since it first emerged and have watched the company grow consistently, one app download at a time, as it has cemented itself into the consciousness of America’s physicians,” said Jonathan Bush, President, Chairman, and CEO of athenahealth. “No other company has been able to replicate the brand awareness, familiarity, and trust that Epocrates has across the clinical mobile user base. We are confident that we can provide Epocrates with the stewardship and resources it needs to grow and develop within health care, and that Epocrates' capabilities are going to mesh exceptionally well with athenahealth’s cloud-based physician and patient services. Together, we’re excited by the opportunity to redefine the mobile toolset for care givers.”
The Epocrates acquisition will enable athenahealth to realize its vision in a number of key ways:
- Better Information Access for Health Organizations — By combining Epocrates’ mobile expertise with knowledge and data from athenahealth’s cloud-based network, the combined company will be uniquely positioned to introduce new mobile applications that deliver high-value information to the clinical community when, where, and how they want it.
- Advanced Mobile Workflows — the combined company will seek to pioneer new mobile workflows to improve provider efficiency and support care delivery outcomes; initial efforts will focus on care coordination, provider-to-provider communication, and patient engagement tools.
- Accelerated Awareness and Growth Across the Physician Market — athenahealth would expand its current provider base of 38,000 to include the more than one million health care professionals on the Epocrates network, allowing athenahealth to build upon the highly favored Epocrates brand, recognized today by approximately 90 percent of practicing U.S. physicians.
“Epocrates and athenahealth are two strong and progressive brands dedicated to helping clinicians deliver high quality care more efficiently through continued innovation and a keen understanding of physicians’ workflows,” said Andrew Hurd, President, CEO, and interim CFO of Epocrates. “By combining the companies’ unique expertise in mobile and cloud-based services, we are setting out to dramatically improve the accessibility of information and redefine the dynamics within health care.”
Piper Jaffray & Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to Epocrates in connection with the transaction. Goodwin Procter LLP served as athenahealth’s legal counsel and Cooley LLP served as counsel to Epocrates.
* As of September 30, 2012.