Vestar Capital to buy Radiation Therapy for $764 mln

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Radiation Therapy Services Inc RTSX.O said on Friday it agreed to be bought by private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners for $32.50 a share, or about $764 million, proof that some private equity players are still shopping, despite the credit crunch-induced slowdown.

The deal's value is based on the company's 23.51 million shares outstanding as of August 1. Including debt, the deal is worth $1.1 billion.

The offer for the company, which runs 83 free-standing centers where cancer patients get radiation therapy, represents a premium of more than 50 percent to the stock's Friday closing price of $21.56 on the Nasdaq.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

Chief Executive Daniel Dosoretz, along with other members of senior management, currently own about 40 percent of the company's outstanding shares and have pledged to vote in favor of the deal. Management has also agreed to reinvest a significant amount in the company.

Wachovia Capital Markets LLC is acting as financial advisor to Radiation Therapy Services.

Private equity firms, which typically buy companies by borrowing most of the money, have played a main role in the more than $1 trillion worth of leveraged buyouts announced over the last two years.

But the recent drying up of available credit has drastically slowed the pace of private equity deals.

(Reporting by Martinne Geller; Additional reporting by Sharangdhar Limaye in Bangalore and Michael Flaherty in New York; editing by Carol Bishopric)