Ardent Health, the hospital operator that owns and operates 30 hospitals and over 200 facilities with more than 1,700 aligned providers in six states including Texas and New Jersey, is planning to launch an initial public offering (IPO) for the second time. The company submitted its IPO registration confidentially to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the IPO expected to value Ardent at about $5 billion or even more.
Ardent may start marketing the shares in July and could potentially raise up to $500 million, one source said. The IPO will be led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., a leading investment bank that has been involved in many high-profile IPOs. Despite the plans for listing, Ardent has not yet finalized its listing plans and details may still change.
Representatives for Ardent and EGI did not respond immediately to requests for comment. A spokesperson for JPMorgan declined to provide a comment. It is worth noting that Ardent had filed for an IPO in 2018 but withdrew its plan in 2020. The previous listing would have been led by Barclays Plc and Citigroup Inc., as well as JPMorgan.
Ardent’s majority owner is Equity Group Investments (EGI), the firm established by the late billionaire investor Sam Zell. Although Zell passed away in 2019, his legacy lives on through EGI, which continues to invest heavily in healthcare real estate and other sectors. In fact, EGI joined forces with health-care real estate investment trust Ventas to acquire Ardent in 2015. Ventas took over ownership of Ardent’s real estate, while EGI and its capital partners acquired Ardent’s operations and established a long-term master lease with Ventas.