Notable Mergers and Acquisitions of the Day 7/31: AET, FBCM

FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com!

AET Hot Sheet

Overall Analyst Rating:
NEUTRAL ( Down

Down)

Dividend Yield: 1.7%
Revenue Growth %: +6.1%

Aetna (NYSE: AET) today announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Horizon Behavioral Services, LLC. Headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, Horizon Behavioral Services is a leading provider of Employee Assistance Programs to many mid-sized and large employers.

The purchase price is approximately $70 million. Aetna expects to finance the transaction from available cash. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including Hart-Scott-Rodino anti-trust approval and applicable regulatory approvals in California.

Aetna will acquire Horizon Behavioral Services from its parent company, Psychiatric Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: PSYS) the nation's largest operator of owned or leased freestanding psychiatric inpatient facilities. Horizon Behavioral Services is the third-largest domestic provider of EAP services by membership with approximately 1,400 contracted employer clients representing over 5 million covered employees in all 50 states and countries around the globe. The company provides unlimited 24/7 confidential telephonic consultation, comprehensive online employee assistance program and work/life resources and access to a referral network of more than 14,000 licensed clinicians. Horizon's clients include publicly and privately held companies, including Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and various not-for-profit entities such as hospital systems.
FBR Capital Markets Corporation (Nasdaq: FBCM) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Watch Hill Partners LLC, a boutique corporate finance advisory practice based in New York. The Watch Hill Partners team will become part of the Corporate Advisory practice within FBR Capital Markets' newly reorganized Investment Banking department.

Founded in 2003, Watch Hill Partners has provided mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance advisory services to a diverse range of clients including closely held and public companies, financial sponsors and a variety of other sophisticated investor groups. The senior partners of Watch Hill Partners have nearly 200 years of combined investment banking experience and have, in aggregate, advised on transactions valued at more than $100 billion.

Terms of the Watch Hill transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2009, were not disclosed. Watch Hill Partners was represented by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods and Herrick, Feinstein LLP.