DHS and Medical Alliance retool merger

Texas healthcare services companies Diagnostic Health Services of Dallas and Medical Alliance of Irving have restructured the terms of their merger agreement, first announced in March (SCAN 3/3/99). The companies changed the deal in order to make it more acceptable to shareholders, who responded tepidly to the terms of the original agreement.

Under the new deal, DHS will be incorporated into Medical Alliance in a reverse merger, with DHS shareholders receiving 0.375 shares of Medical Alliance common stock for every share of DHS they own. The previous deal had Medical Alliance merging into DHS. The new agreement will reduce the number of outstanding shares in the newly merged company from 22.7 million shares to 12 million. This should have a positive effect on the new company’s earnings per share, according to Brad Hummel, CEO of DHS. Medical Alliance will also provide a $2 million bridge loan to DHS.

Other aspects of the agreement will remain the same. The new company will be called Medical Alliance and will trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the symbol MAII. The new company’s management team will be made up of executives from both firms.