Health and Healthcare

Are Athenahealth Shareholders Getting Enough in This Go-Private Offer?

Chris Lange

Published: May 7, 2018 1:40 pm

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 11:58 pm

Athenahealth Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN) shares jumped on Monday after it was announced that Elliot Management wants to take the company private. This is an unsolicited bid and the company has yet to respond. Either way, shareholders should be happy.

According to the proposal, Elliot Management wants to acquire Athenahealth for $160 per share in cash, representing a premium of about 27% from Friday’s close of $126.08. Elliot Management currently owns about 8.9% of Athenahealth.

It is worth pointing out that the stock had massively dropped in the past two weeks. The 50-day and 200-day moving averages of $140.67 and $134.23, respectively, represent premiums of 13.7% and 19.2%, respectively.

Excluding Monday’s move, Athenahealth had outperformed the broad markets, with the stock up about 25% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock was down 5%.

Elliot Management also released its letter to the board of directors detailing its intentions:

Elliott has done an extensive amount of work to understand athenahealth’s business, its mission and its position in the broader healthcare landscape. We believe that athenahealth has great potential with a differentiated opportunity to fundamentally change the Healthcare IT (HCIT) industry. While we may (or may not) differ on the road ahead, we recognize the unique and powerful accomplishments that have taken place at athenahealth due to Jonathan’s vision.

Unfortunately, we are faced now with the stark reality that athenahealth as a public-company investment, despite all of its promise, has not worked for many years, is not working today and will not work in the future. Given athenahealth’s potential, this reality is deeply frustrating, but the fact remains that athenahealth as a public company has not made the changes necessary to enable it to grow as it should and to create the kind of value its shareholders deserve.

Elliot Management had approached Athenahealth back in November, but the company refused to engage.

Shares of Athenahealth were last seen up about 15% at $145.76 on Monday, with a consensus analyst price target of $145.58 and a 52-week range of $102.63 to $158.66.

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