November 4, 2015. HCA Holdings Inc, one of the largest U.S. hospital chains, has agreed to pay $215 million to settle our shareholder class action lawsuit over its $4.35 billion initial public offering in March 2011. The settlement resolves allegations that the company violated Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 by concealing poor growth prospects and the fact that it routinely performed unnecessary cardiac procedures. Bottini & Bottini is one of the counsel for plaintiffs in the case.
The settlement was subsequently approved by U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp in Nashville, Tennessee federal court, who is presiding over the lawsuit. The claim form is contained below.
HCA's IPO had been the largest by a company owned by private equity firms. HCA had been taken private in 2006 by a group led by Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Merrill Lynch's private equity arm.
The complaint alleges that HCA, its directors, its private equity owners and its investment banks hid unfavorable trends from investors, including falling revenue from Medicaid patients, and improperly accounted for a 2006 accounting and 2010 restructuring.
The complaint also alleges that HCA hid the fact that it was being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for doing unnecessary cardiac procedures, which ultimately led it to curtail those procedures and lose revenue.
By the time HCA was sued on Oct. 28, 2011, after additional disclosures, HCA's share price had fallen as much as 43 percent from its $30 IPO price.
The class, which Judge Sharp certified in September 2014, includes shareholders who bought HCA stock from March 9, 2011 (the date of the IPO) to Oct. 28, 2011.
The case had been scheduled to go to trial in January 2016.
The case is Schuh et al v. HCA Holdings Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, No. 11-01033.