Ventas Inc., acquired Ardent Medical Services and announced it would spin off most of its skilled nursing facilities into an independent real estate investment trust.
Ardent is headquartered in Tennessee and is one of the ten largest for-profit hospital operators in the U.S.
Ventas will own ten high-quality hospitals (and related real estate) operated by Ardent under the names BSA Health System in Amarillo, Texas, Hillcrest HealthCare System in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Lovelace Health System in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These assets include acute care, heart, rehab and women's health hospitals, comprising approximately 3.2 million square feet and 2,045 beds.
The change of ownership is not expected to have any impact on local operations.
Ardent purchased the Hillcrest operation in 2004.
