Bon Secours nears $6bn deal for Bain-backed Surgery Partners

Bon Secours Mercy Health is in late-stage negotiations to acquire a majority stake in Surgery Partners in a transaction valuing the surgical care provider at roughly $6 billion including debt, the Financial Times reported. The proposed takeover would significantly expand the nonprofit hospital system’s presence in outpatient surgery.

The discussions envisage a price of about $20 a share, according to the newspaper’s account, which cited people familiar with the matter. Bain Capital would retain its almost 40% stake under the proposed take-private arrangement, rather than sell out alongside other shareholders.

The reported enterprise valuation includes approximately $3.5 billion in debt, distinguishing the headline transaction value from the amount attributable to shareholders. Reuters, reporting on the FT account, calculated that the proposed share price represented a 25.8% premium to Surgery Partners’ last closing price of $15.90.

For Surgery Partners, the negotiations follow an earlier unsuccessful attempt by Bain to acquire the shares it did not already own. The company announced on June 17, 2025, that its independent board committee and the private equity firm had ended discussions over that nonbinding proposal.

At that time, the committee said it had assessed the offer with independent financial and legal advisers and concluded that remaining publicly traded offered greater prospects for long-term growth and shareholder value. A transaction led by Bon Secours would represent a different ownership arrangement, bringing in a hospital operator while preserving Bain’s substantial investment.

The strategic attraction is a larger presence in surgical services delivered outside traditional inpatient hospital care. Surgery Partners operates short-stay surgical facilities, giving a prospective controlling owner an established operating business through which to expand that part of its healthcare network.

The talks also fit a broader push by nonprofit health systems into outpatient surgery. Ascension announced an agreement to acquire AMSURG in June 2025 and confirmed completion on June 4, 2026, saying the acquisition expanded its network to 300 ambulatory surgery centers nationwide.

Ascension framed that purchase as a response to care increasingly moving beyond hospitals, with community-based surgical facilities complementing hospitals focused on more complex treatment. That provides context for the Bon Secours discussions, although the reported negotiations do not establish what changes a new owner would make to Surgery Partners’ operations or patient services.

The FT said an announcement could come as soon as Monday, but the negotiations remained a prospective transaction rather than a completed acquisition. Reuters said Bon Secours and Surgery Partners had not immediately responded to its requests for comment outside regular business hours. A formal announcement would be needed to establish the definitive price, ownership structure and conditions for completing any deal.