PACS Group, a Utah-based nursing home operator that has quickly become one of the nation’s largest, filed the required paperwork Wednesday to become a public company.
Founded in 2013, PACS now manages more than 200 post-acute facilities, most of them nursing homes, in nine states. In conjunction with its Providence Group team, PACS serves more than 20,000 patients daily, and the company had a total revenue of $3.1 billion in 2023, according to its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Few nursing home companies operate publicly today, and PACS would join Ensign as one of the largest being publicly traded.
PACS plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol PACS. Company officials had filed with the SEC confidentially in December, according to Renaissance Capital. Word had begun to circulate in ownership circles about a potential initial public offering, but the rumors were not confirmed until the paperwork went public this week.
“We believe that our operating model creates meaningful value for patients and their families, our referring providers, our payors, and our administrators and clinicians,” company officials wrote in their prospectus.
“We believe our market density in key regions offers strategic advantages, such as brand recognition with referring providers, including hospitals and health systems, and consistency and continuity of referrals of patients. For example, our ability to accommodate a high volume of patients within our markets allows us to accept referrals without turning patients away to competitors, and can also further our reputation as a reliable, go-to provider of care for referring providers,” the document said. “We also believe our size and scale has provided us with the ability to negotiate favorable contracts with managed care and other payor sources, the ability to navigate stringent regulatory compliance.”
PACS had been gearing up for the public launch amid its continued expansion. In January, the company announced the appointment of three new executive leaders, a move often seen in the lead-up to an initial listing.
Among the underwriters for the IPO are Truist Securities, Citibank, JP Morgan Chase and Regions Capital Markets.
PACS said Wednesday it could raise up to $100 million through its initial stock offering, though Renaissance estimated a potential value of up to $500 million.
The move to go public bucks a recent trend in which major players in the skilled nursing sector have taken their business operations off the books. In March 2021, the massive Genesis Heallthcare delisted from the New York Stock Exchange following an infusion of cash from a private equity investment firm.
That same year, Tennessee-based Diversicare merged with DAC Acquisition, and following the deal’s close, Diversicare become a privately held company that was no longer subject to SEC reporting obligations.
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