Manor Care Wants Buyout to Proceed

A national nursing home chain wants the state Health Care Authority to decide immediately whether it will approve the company's sale, saying the delay is costing investors millions.

Toledo, Ohio-based Manor Care Inc. filed a motion Monday asking the authority to reinstate its earlier approval of West Virginia's portion of The Carlyle Group's $6.3 billion buyout of the company.

The authority decided to reconsider its initial approval based on concerns raised by the Service Employees International Union, one of two unions that represent Manor Care employees at five of its seven West Virginia facilities.

At a hearing on Friday, the union questioned whether patient care and nurse staffing levels would be harmed by the deal.

But Manor Care representatives said the union didn't raise any issues that could block the transfer to The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.

"Quick approval from West Virginia is essential," Stephen L. Guillard, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Manor Care, said in a statement. "Based on the failure of SEIU to raise any legitimate legal issues during the six-hour hearing on Friday, we believe there are no grounds to maintain the stay."

Manor Care says the delay is costing investors _ including West Virginia's pension fund _ more than $1 million a day.

The West Virginia Investment Management Board, which manages the state's pension plans, holds about 161,000 shares of Manor Care stock.

The SEIU said Monday that slowing down the process is the right way to ensure that any questions about changes to patient care and staffing levels are adequately addressed.

"Even if The Carlyle Group doesn't want to allocate more time for folks to thoroughly review this, we're confident the Health Care Authority will," SEIU representative Jennifer Farmer said.

The Health Care Authority will review the motion, general counsel Marianne Kapinos said Monday. If the motion is denied, a decision on the deal could come as late as mid-January.

Carlyle's acquisition of Manor Care was announced last summer and has been reviewed by more than 30 states. It has been approved by shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the companies hope it will close by the end of the year.

Manor Care operates about 500 facilities across the country and generates approximately $4 billion in annual revenue.