InSight shareholder offers to buy firm

A shareholder group that owns one-third of InSight Health Services has offered to buy the rest of the company, the Newport Beach, CA, imaging services firm reported this month. InSight has formed a special committee to evaluate the proposal, which InSight executives said was unsolicited.

The proposal was made by investment firms the Carlyle Group and the Halifax Group, which together own 33% of the company. The investor group intends to buy the rest of InSight for $10 a share and merge it with an affiliated company, InSight management said. In addition to forming the special committee, InSight has retained an investment banking firm to consider the bid.

In other InSight news, the company reported financial results for its third quarter (end-March). InSight reported revenues of $40.8 million, up 44% compared with $28.4 million in the same period last year. Much of the increase was due to acquisitions InSight made last year, such as its purchase of Signal Medical Systems (SCAN 4/1/98).

On the profit side, InSight reported net income of $525,000, compared with $1.9 million in the third quarter of 1998. The drop was due to an increase in interest expense of $2.2 million, the company said.