RALEIGH – PRA Health Sciences (PRAH), one of the world’s largest contract research organizations, is buying out its biggest investor.
The firm has priced its public offering of 6.7 million common shares from current stockholder KKR PRA Investors at $97.50, it announced today. The shares represent just over a 10 percent stake in the company, according to Yahoo Finance.
Vanguard Group and Blackrock own 9.67 and 9.27 percent respectively of PRA’s shares.
The total purchase price: $300 million, which the company plans to pay through an “incremental term loan under its existing credit facilities,” it said.
Once sold, KKR will no longer have a stake in the company.
Shortly after the news broke, PRAH’s stock price was trading at 98.87 mid-day on Wednesday.
It comes on the heels of the company’s board authorizing a $500 million share repurchase program, effective immediately.
Under the program, the company is authorized to repurchase shares of its common stock through open market purchases, privately-negotiated transactions, secondary offerings, block trades or otherwise in accordance with all applicable securities laws and regulations.
Following the completion of KKR’s buyout, PRAH will have around $200 million of remaining availability under the share repurchase program.
Founded in 1976, the company moved its global headquarters to Raleigh in 2008.
