Hospital chain Tenet to buy Vanguard Health for $1.73 billion

By Susan Kelly and Esha Dey

(Reuters) - U.S. hospital operator Tenet Healthcare Corp said on Monday it will buy smaller rival Vanguard Health Systems Inc for $1.73 billion, putting it in a better position to benefit from the millions of Americans about to get insurance under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform.

Investors expect hospital revenue to grow from treating more Americans insured under the reform, and speculation that major hospital chains would increase their acquisitions has fueled stocks in the sector.

As providers prepare for the healthcare overhaul, they are also grappling with a slowdown in the use of medical services. Americans are visiting doctors less frequently and having fewer elective procedures as out-of-pocket costs rise.

"All of the uncertainty around health reform has many healthcare systems concerned about how they are going to navigate this new era. You have to have size and scale to succeed," Tenet Chief Executive Trevor Fetter said in an interview.

Tenet's purchase of Vanguard is expected to close by the end of the year. The U.S. health overhaul takes full effect next January.

The combined company will be the second-largest for-profit U.S. hospital operator, with total revenue of about $15 billion in 2012, behind No. 1 HCA Holdings Inc but surpassing Community Health Systems Inc. Tenet fended off a hostile takeover effort from Community Health in 2011.

Buying Vanguard will give Tenet more clout in negotiations with managed care providers, drug companies and medical device makers, Fetter said, while reducing overhead costs.

Dallas-based Tenet said the expanded chain would have 79 hospitals and 157 outpatient centers, making it No. 1 or No. 2 in 19 key markets, including San Antonio and South Texas.

Fetter told analysts on a conference call earlier on Monday that the deal signaled a new appetite for acquisitions for Tenet, which has acquired only one hospital in the past eight years. "It is a turning point for Tenet," he said.

In addition to healthcare reform - which includes government subsidies to low-income individuals to buy health coverage and an expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor - historically low borrowing costs are helping drive a consolidation wave in the hospital sector.

"The combination of the industry conditions and capital markets creates a very attractive opportunity to be more active in acquisitions, and that's what I plan to be," Fetter told Reuters. "I wanted to signal to the market that, yes, this is a very large transaction, but you should continue to expect us to be active."

REASONABLE PREMIUM

Tenet's offer of $21 per Vanguard share, a premium of 70 percent to Vanguard's Friday closing price, represents the highest price for the stock since the company's initial public offering in 2011. Under the deal, Tenet also assumes $2.54 billion of Vanguard debt.

Tenet's stock rose 5.6 percent, while Vanguard soared 68 percent.

Private equity firm Blackstone Group LP is Vanguard's biggest shareholder, with a 38 percent stake. Founder and CEO Charles Martin owns 4.18 percent and will join Tenet's board as a director.

"It's a very smart deal for (Tenet) to be doing at this juncture, and I think gaining the services of both Keith Pitts and Charlie Martin ... is crucial to this," said CRT Capital Group analyst Sheryl Skolnick, who has a "buy" rating on both companies. Pitts is Vanguard's vice chairman.

Analysts said the premium being paid was reasonable, given the potential savings from the deal. Tenet expects the deal to add to earnings in the first year and estimates annual cost savings of $100 million to $200 million.

Tenet operates 49 hospitals and 122 freestanding outpatient centers in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and states in the Southeast. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Vanguard owns 28 acute care and specialty hospitals in the Midwest, South and Massachusetts.

Tenet said a trend of fewer patient admissions it reported in the first quarter has continued. Admissions are expected to decline by 3.5 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier.

The company sees second-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization closer to the lower end of its previous forecast of $325 million to $375 million.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher was Tenet's legal counsel in the deal, and Lazard, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Teneo Capital were financial and strategic advisers. Vanguard was advised by J.P. Morgan. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom was legal counsel.

Tenet said it has secured fully committed financing from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

(Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago and Esha Dey in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Caroline Humer in New York; Editing by Ted Kerr, Michele Gershberg, Jeffrey Benkoe and John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tenet-healthcare-buy-vanguard-health-4-3-billion-103002493.html

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'That 70s Show' actress arrested in Southern Calif

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) ? "That '70s Show" actress Lisa Robin Kelly has been arrested in Southern California on suspicion of drunken driving.

The California Highway Patrol says officers noticed signs of possible intoxication when they helped move the 43-year-old actress' stalled car off Interstate 5 in Burbank late Saturday.

The CHP said that after an investigation, officers arrested and booked her on suspicion of DUI. Kelly was released on $5,000 bail.

An email to her agent was not immediately returned.

It was not her first brush with the law. Kelly and her husband Robert Joseph Gilliam were arrested last November in connection to a disturbance at their home in the Charlotte, N.C., suburb of Mooresville.

Kelly portrayed Laurie Forman, sister of Topher Grace's lead character Eric, on the FOX series, which ended in 2006.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/70s-show-actress-arrested-southern-calif-024350384.html

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96% Stories We Tell

All Critics (74) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (71) | Rotten (3)

Stories We Tell is not just very moving; it is an exploration of truth and fiction that will stay with you long after repeated viewings.

Part of the movie's pleasure is how comfortable the "storytellers" are with their director; you get a sense of a complicated but tight-knit family, going along with Sarah's project because they love her.

Never sentimental, never cold and never completely sure of anything, Polley comes across as a woman caught in wonder.

After you see it, you'll be practically exploding with questions - and with awe.

Stories We Tell is just the latest reminder of nonfiction film's current, endlessly innovative state. That's a story worth savoring.

Sarah Polley is often referred to in Canada as a 'national treasure'. She's far more than that. She's a treasure to the world - period. And so, finally, is her film.

An absorbing exercise not only in documentary excavation but in narrative construction.

Sarah Polley's exploration of her tangled family history is a complex and thoroughly fascinating inquiry into the nature of truth and memory -- and, inevitably, into Polley herself.

This is simply a gorgeously realised and warmly compiled family album, which lingers with us not because its subjects are so unusual and alien, but because they feel so close to home. What a success.

Sarah Polley's personal "documentary" suffers from one additional emotional beat too many. Otherwise, it's mesmerizing.

Polley interviews her family and acquaintances with remarkable candor and intimacy, perhaps as a method of catharsis, but it never feels like a vanity project or a simple airing of dirty laundry.

The great conceit of Polley's theories of perspective and truth is that she, as director, ultimately controlled everyone's memories because she arranged them on film.

As with her other films, when Sarah Polley takes it upon herself to tell us a story, you can bet it's a tale well-told and one that you'll want to hear.

What Stories We Tell does so brilliantly is both tell the story and tell about how we tell our stories. The truth may not be out there.

This is a warm, brave and thought-provoking piece of autobiography.

Stories We Tell shows us that the truth and the way its told are two very different things. Polley's wonderful documentary honors both by preferring neither.

I could not love it more.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stories_we_tell/

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Video: Are World Economies Living on Borrowed Time?

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52294358/

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Hostess: Twinkies to return to shelves July 15

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management. (AP Photo/Hostess Brands)

This undated image provided by Hostess Brands LLC shows a box of Twinkies. Twinkies will be back on shelves by July 15, 2013, after its predecessor company went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with unions last year. The brands have since been purchased y Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo Global Management. (AP Photo/Hostess Brands)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Hostess is betting on a sweet comeback for Twinkies when they return to shelves next month.

The company that went bankrupt after an acrimonious fight with its unionized workers last year is back up and running under new owners and a leaner structure. It says it plans to have Twinkies and other snack cakes back on shelves starting July 15.

Based on the outpouring of nostalgia sparked by its demise, Hostess is expecting a blockbuster return next month for Twinkies and other sugary treats, such as CupCakes and Donettes. The company says the cakes will taste the same but that the boxes will now bare the tag line "The Sweetest Comeback In The History Of Ever."

"A lot of impostor products have come to the market while Hostess has been off the shelves," says Daren Metropoulos, a principal of the investment firm Metropoulos & Co., which teamed up with Apollo Global Management to buy a variety of Hostess snacks.

Hostess Brands Inc. was struggling for years before it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in early 2012. Workers blamed the troubles on years of mismanagement, as well as a failure of executives to invest in brands to keep up with changing tastes. The company said it was weighed down by higher pension and medical costs than its competitors, whose employees weren't unionized.

To steer it through its bankruptcy reorganization, Hostess hired restructuring expert Greg Rayburn as its CEO. But Rayburn ultimately failed to reach a contract agreement with its second largest union. In November, he blamed striking workers for crippling the company's ability to maintain normal production and announced that Hostess would liquidate.

The shuttering triggered a rush on Hostess snack cakes, with stores selling out of the most popular brands within hours.

About 15,000 unionized workers lost their jobs in the aftermath.

In unwinding its business, Hostess sold off its brands in chunks to different buyers. Its major bread brands including Wonder were sold to Flowers Foods, which makes Tastykakes. McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie snack cakes, snapped up Drake's Cake, which includes Devil Dogs and Yodels.

Metropoulos & Co. and Apollo bought Twinkies and other Hostess cakes for $410 million.

Apollo Global Management, founded by Leon Black, is known for buying troubled brands then selling them for a profit; its investments include fast-food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. Metropoulos & Co., which has revamped then sold off brands including Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee, also owns Pabst Brewing Co.

That could mean some cross-promotional marketing is in store.

"There is certainly a natural association with the two," Metropoulos said. "There could be some opportunities for them to seen together."

The trimmed-down Hostess Brands LLC has a far less costly operating structure than the predecessor company. Some of the previous workers were hired back, but they're no longer unionized.

Hostess will also now deliver to warehouses that supply retailers, rather than delivering directly to stores, said Rich Seban, the president of Hostess who previously served as chief operating officer. That will greatly expand its reach, letting it deliver to dollar stores and nearly all convenience stores in the U.S.

Previously, he said Hostess was only able to reach about a third of the country's 150,000 convenience stores.

Production was also consolidated, from 11 bakery plants to four ? one each in Georgia, Kansas, Illinois and Indiana. The headquarters were moved from Texas to Kansas City, Mo., where Hostess was previously based and still had some accounting offices.

In the months since they vanished from shelves, the cakes have been getting a few touchups as well. For the CupCakes, the company is now using dark cocoa instead of milk chocolate to give them a richer, darker appearance.

Seban stressed that the changes were to improve the cakes, not to cut costs. Prices for the cakes will remain the same; a box of 10 Twinkies will cost $3.99.

Looking ahead, Seban sees Hostess expanding its product lineup. He noted that Hostess cakes are known for three basic textures: the spongy cake, the creamy filling and the thicker icing. But he said different textures ? such as crunchy ? could be introduced, as well as different flavors.

"We can have some fun with that mixture," he said.

He also said there are many trendy health attributes the company could tap into, such as gluten-free, added fiber, low sugar and low sodium.

During bankruptcy proceedings, Hostess had said that its overall sales had been declining, although the company didn't give a breakout on the performance of individual brands. But Seban is confident Twinkies will have staying power beyond its re-launch.

As for the literal shelf-life, Seban is quick to refute the snack cake's fabled indestructibility.

"Forty-five days ? that's it," he said. "They don't last forever."

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicehoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-06-23-Twinkies-Comeback/id-41f2c68d15804a1d9d6e6416a0d500c8

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U.S. files espionage charges against NSA leaker (cbsnews)

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Pregnant Jessica Simpson Steps Out For Lunch With Fianc? (PHOTO)

Celebuzz:

Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Read the whole story at Celebuzz

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Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Filed by Youyoung Lee ?|?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/pregnant-jessica-simpson-fiance_n_3484087.html

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A look at the jurors for George Zimmerman's trial

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) ? The six women picked Thursday to serve on the jury in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder trial come from different backgrounds and they have varying knowledge about the case involving the former neighborhood watch volunteer who claims self-defense in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Here are some details they shared during two weeks of jury selection. Their names will be released sometime after the trial, which could last two weeks to a month after opening statements on Monday.

Race and ethnicity have played a prominent role in the case. While the court did not release the racial makeup of the jury, the panel appeared to reporters covering jury selection to be made up of five white women and a sixth who may be Hispanic.

___

B-51 is retired, not married and doesn't have kids. She has lived in Seminole County for nine years. She has worked in real estate and run a call center where she said she had experience resolving conflicts. When asked if Zimmerman did something wrong by following Martin instead of waiting for police, she said: "Yeah, I guess he did do something wrong."

___

B-29 recently moved to central Florida from Chicago. She enjoys watching the "Real Housewives" on television and works as a nurse on an Alzheimer's section of a nursing home. She said she hadn't paid much attention to the shooting. She said she has been arrested, but her case was disposed of. It's not clear why she was arrested or exactly what happened to her case, though she said she was treated fairly. She is married and has several children. A prosecutor described her as "black or Hispanic" during jury selection.

___

B-76 is a white woman who has lived in central Florida for 18 years. She manages rental properties with her husband of 30 years. She has two adult children, including one who is an attorney. She is involved with rescuing animals in her free time. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime. "Everyone deserves a fair trial," she said.

___

B-37 is a white woman who volunteers rescuing animals. She is married to an attorney and has two adult children. She said she and her husband used to have concealed weapons permits. During the last round of questioning, she said she had an issue with the type of weapons people are allowed to carry. She also thought weapons' training was inadequate for people seeking permits. "It should become harder," she said.

___

E-6 is a white woman who is married and has two children. She has worked in financial services and has lived in Seminole County for two years. She is active in her church and involved with her children's school. During jury selection, she said she didn't know the facts of the case well.

___

E-40 is a white woman who works as a safety officer and recently moved to Seminole County from Iowa. She describes herself as a football fan. During jury selection, she said she had been the victim of a nonviolent crime.

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-20-Neighborhood%20Watch-Jury/id-48e9be6c74fb4df880d4e8e8b4d4cc3d

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Movie Review: The Bling Ring Proves as Superficial as its Reality ...

Location

Wide Release

Dates

Opens June 21

From October 2008 through August 2009, a group of Los Angeles high school kids burglarized a string of celebrity homes in the Hollywood Hills. In many ways the crime spree was perfect 21^st century remix of the Bonnie and Clyde story. The homes were targeted by searching on the internet for which celebrities were out of town on any given night. The thrill of the crime was fed, in part, by the teen burglar?s infatuation with stars and celebrity lifestyle. The fascination and media bubble that swelled around the crooks after they were caught for their crime catapulted the teenagers into a kind of Reality TV stardom that, though nefarious and life altering, seemed to satisfy a hunger for a life authenticated through the media glare. Even today, now that most of the culprits have served their jail time and have been released, TMZ will stop some of the Bling Ring members on the streets of Hollywood. In other words, by bizarre paparazzi standards, they?ve made it.

Sophia Coppola?s new film The Bling Ring dives into this bizarre and perfectly contemporary scenario, taking us through the crimes that led up to the eventual capture/stardom. Too bad she doesn?t dive deep enough. The film tries to be in ? and of ? the world it portrays. As a result, it feels like a glossy veneer of life. Long sequences are given over to ogling at the contents of Paris Hilton?s closet, as girls swipe high end purses and stuff them with jewelry. Other moments play out like music videos: long, lingering shots of the teenagers driving through L.A. or spending their stolen thousands at popular clubs, all to a mellow, synth-soaked soundtrack (Coppola, if anything, has always had impeccable taste in music). There are also scenes shot from webcams, incessant smart phone photo shoots, and lots of gabby vernacular. The longer we hang around these the characters, however, the less there seems to know about them. That may be part of the point, but it makes for a film that is as consumed by the surface of things as the superficial people it portrays.

Coppola approach here is tricky. She seems to want to show the world for what it is, and yet leave us with not so much a critique of its protagonists, as a lingering bitter taste. Of all the characters, Marc (Israel Broussard) seems to be most fully developed. He reluctantly joins in on his friend Rebecca?s (Katie Chang) plan to break into unlocked house, but is soon swept up in it like everyone else. Long close up shots of his face try to penetrate an inner psychology that remains out of reach. His fall from grace ? the eventual capture and spoiling of the teenagers? dream world ? hardly provokes any sympathy. There are times when Coppola seems to be trolling for our sympathy for these characters, and other times when she seems to want to keep them at arm?s length.

Emma Watson turns in the most intriguing performance as Nicki, a girl who unlike Marc and Rebecca, seems lost in an altogether deeper delusional existence. Coppola opens the film with some of this ridiculousness, having Nicki speculate to the paparazzi that despite her crimes she may become a world leader nonetheless. But then we lose the character to the mellow blur of the action that follows. That?s what happens to much of The Bling Ring, and it is what makes Coppola?s film feel more unfocused than subtle.

Source: http://frontrow.dmagazine.com/2013/06/movie-review-the-bling-ring-proves-as-superficial-as-its-reality-tv-obssessed-anti-heroes/

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