Ending the year with a jaw dropping acquisition in the home care industry, health insurer Humana Inc. and two private equity firms announced an agreement to buy Kindred Healthcare.
 
On Dec. 19, Humana and private equity firms TPG Capital and Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe announced the agreement to a $4.1 billion deal, according to a release from Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred.
 
Humana will pay $800 million for 40% of Kindred at Home. The firms will own the other 60%.
 
The deal involves separating Kindred’s home care side of the business from the specialty hospital side.
Kindred currently has 40,000 caregivers serving about 130,000 clients each day.
 
“Minority ownership allows Kindred’s home care business to continue to grow as an independent company while Humana provides capabilities to transform the home health model to a value-based care platform,” the release states.
 
It’s the second major transaction in the home care space in a little over a month.
 
In November, Almost Family of Louisville, Ky., and LHC Group of Lafayette, announced a merger resulting in 31,000 employees and $1.8 billion in revenue. (See related story.)