FTC loses bid to block Novant’s North Carolina hospital merger

A federal choose ordered Wednesday that Novant Well being can transfer ahead with its plan to purchase two North Carolina hospitals, denying the Federal Commerce Fee’s request for an injunction.

The FTC sued to dam the deal in January, arguing that it might give Novant management of greater than 65% of the area’s inpatient market. The case, one in search of to dam close by hospitals from merging and creating an much more highly effective dominant participant, is the FTC’s bread and butter. The company has shied away from difficult cross-market and vertical mergers, however this one is true in its wheelhouse, which makes the setback shocking. 

Beneath the deal, introduced early final 12 months, Novant would purchase two hospitals in the identical county from for-profit Neighborhood Well being Techniques for $320 million. The hospitals, Lake Norman Regional Medical Heart and Davis Regional Medical Heart, are solely a 25-minute drive from each other. Davis Regional was a full-service hospital, however is now a psychiatric hospital. The deal additionally features a group of 24 medical doctors, a majority curiosity in an endoscopy middle, and a holding in a deliberate surgical procedure middle.