DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) began a tender offer to purchase as
much as $1 billion of senior notes that mature in 2014, part of its
efforts to improve its financial flexibility.
The company has been trying to turn itself around following
years of financial and legal trouble, cutting costs and conducting
debt exchanges. Meanwhile, hospitals in general have been cutting
back on capital spending and taking other measures to conserve cash
as rising unemployment threatens to increase the ranks of the
uninsured and consumers put off elective procedures.
Tenet earlier this month said it was holding up well amid the
recession, but it remained cautious about the future.
The offer expires June 25 at 12 a.m. EDT. Notes tendered before
5 p.m. EDT June 11 will receive the notes' full face value plus and
accrued and unpaid interest, while those tendered afterward will
receive $970 per $1,000 of principal. The offer is contingent on at
least $200 million in notes being tendered.
Shares were recently up to $3.24 in premarket trading. The stock
has lost half of its value in the past seven months, though it has
more than tripled since March.
-By Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2473;
tess.stynes@dowjones.com