Community Health Systems, Inc. announced today that subsidiaries of the Company have signed a definitive agreement to sell four South Carolina hospitals - 82-bed Chester Regional Medical Center in Chester, 225-bed Springs Memorial Hospital in Lancaster, 396-bed Carolinas Hospital System in Florence, and 124-bed Carolinas Hospital System - Marion in Mullins - along with related businesses, including physician clinic operations and outpatient services, to the Medical University Hospital Authority in Charleston, S.C.
As part of the transaction, Medical University Hospital Authority will assume the long-term lease and operations of Chester Regional Medical Center. The transfer of the lease is subject to the consent of the Chester County Hospital Board of Chester County, South Carolina.
The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2019, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. The four hospitals are among the additional planned divestitures discussed on the Company's third quarter 2018 earnings call.
Kaufman, Hall & Associates, LLC is acting as the exclusive financial advisor to the Medical University Hospital Authority on this transaction.