Athenahealth has agreed to be acquired by a Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital affiliate for $5.7 billion, the companies announced Monday morning.
Athenahealth will continue to be its own brand, but Veritas and Evergreen will merge it with Virence Health, the analytics and software firm formerly known as the Value-Based Care Solutions Group, which GE Healthcare acquired earlier in 2018.
Virence Chairman and CEO Bob Segert will lead the newly combined company.
"Combining with Virence will create new opportunities for collaboration and growth," Athenahealth Executive Chairman Jeff Immelt said in a statement.
Athenahealth has been facing takeover attempts since at least 2017, when Elliott Management first tried to buy the company. Elliott Management supports the Veritas-Evergreen acquisition. The transaction "represents an outstanding, value-maximizing outcome for Athenahealth shareholders," Elliott partner Jesse Cohn said in a statement.
Athenahealth will hold an earnings call later Monday. In a third-quarter earnings report released Friday, the company reported it booked less business compared to the same period of 2017. Revenue for the quarter was $329.5 million, according to the company's new accounting standards, and $331.4 million according to the old standards, up 9% over the year-before quarter.
Athenahealth's stock was up nearly 10%, to $131.97 a share at the end of trading Monday.