Private equity firm Thoma Bravo will acquire electronic health records vendor NextGen Healthcare for $1.8 billion, the companies announced Wednesday.
The deal will bring an end to NextGen's four decades as a publicly traded company since it debuted as Quality Systems in 1982. NextGen is the latest health technology business to go private, following private equity deals for companies that struggled on the public markets, such as SOC Telemed, Allscripts and Tivity Health.
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Under the terms of the definitive agreement, Thoma Bravo will pay $23.95 per share to acquire NextGen, which is a 46.4% premium over its $16.36 closing price on Aug. 22, the date Reuters first reported the EHR company was up for sale, according to a news release. NextGen opened at $23.54 on the Nasdaq Stock Market Wednesday, up 14.5% from the previous day's close.
NextGen, which employs 2,800 people, sells EHRs to outpatient providers and competes against rivals such as Epic Systems. Last month, NextGen agreed to pay $31 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act and offered kickbacks to clients.
The transaction is expected to close this quarter. NextGen would pay Thoma Bravo a $41.2 million termination fee if the deal falls through.
Thoma Bravo's health tech portfolio already includes assets such as provider authentication platform company Imprivata, which it acquired and took private in 2016, and health insurance tech company Zipari, which it bought in 2020.
NextGen and Thoma Bravo did not respond to requests for comment.
