Owens & Minor acquires home health care company for $1.6B

Mechanicsville-based Fortune 500 health care logistics company Owens & Minor Inc. announced Tuesday that it had closed its acquisition of Indianapolis-based Apria Inc. for a cash consideration of $1.6 billion.

Owens & Minor funded the purchase with a combination of debt and cash on hand.

The company is combining Apria and its Byram Healthcare Centers Inc. business to form a Patient Direct segment. The segment expands the company’s home health care business’ geographic reach, products and care needs it can cover.

Apria is a perfect complement to our Byram business,” Owens & Minor President and CEO Edward A. Pesicka said in a statement. “This portfolio expansion strengthens Owens & Minor’s position in the fast-growing home health industry and enhances our ability to support health care beyond the hospital for both new and existing patients.”

Daniel J. Starck, Apria’s CEO since 2015, will serve as president of the new segment. He is also an Owens & Minor executive vice president.

“We look forward to unleashing the full potential of our teammates in the new Patient Direct segment to achieve even better clinical connectivity between the patient, the provider and the payor,” Starck said in a statement.

Owens & Minor will also combine its global products, medical distribution and services businesses to create a Products & Healthcare Services segment.

Owens & Minor was founded in 1882 and has distribution, production, customer service and sales facilities in the Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America. It employs more than 15,000 people and sells medical supplies to customers in 90 countries.