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Mercy Suburban sold for $25 million

Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania sold its Mercy Suburban Hospital for $25 million, $10 million less than originally planned, a court filing last month showed.

Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania sold its Mercy Suburban Hospital for $25 million, $10 million less than originally planned, a court filing last month showed.

The sale, announced nearly a year ago with an expected completion date in September, finally closed Feb. 1.

The price is not the only thing that changed.

The buyer did, too.

Taking the place of a for-profit subsidiary of Prime Healthcare Services Inc. was Prime Healthcare Foundation Inc., a tax-exempt affiliate of Prime.

Sometime before Dec. 31, Prime approached Mercy and Mercy's owner, Trinity Health, in bid to restructure certain aspects of the deal "given certain changed circumstances as to Prime and [Mercy Suburban Hospital's] deteriorating financial performance," a Jan. 29 petition in Montgomery County Orphans' Court said.

In exchange for the lower price, Prime agreed to increase its five-year capital commitment to the hospital, now called Suburban Community Hospital, to $40 million from $30 million, the filing said.

Prime officials did not respond to requests for information about why the Prime foundation bought the hospital instead of the for-profit company.

Prime Healthcare Foundation owned eight hospitals in Califorinia and Texas before buying Mercy Surburban. It had total revenue of $463 million in 2014 and operating income of $73 million in 2014, according to an Orphans' Court filing.

hbrubaker@phillynews.com

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