Owner of Vegas hospitals plans stock buy-back

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Monday, Nov. 29, 1999 | 11:01 a.m.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. said today it will repurchase up to $1 billion of the company's outstanding common shares.

The Nashville-based company said it has completed the buyback of about $3 billion in shares since 1997 and currently has about 563 million shares outstanding.

The stock traded at $26.75 on the New York Stock Exchange this morning, unchanged from Friday's closing level.

Columbia/HCA, which has more than 290 hospitals, posted $17.1 billion of revenue in the last 12 months. It's in settlement talks with the federal government aimed at settling a Medicare fraud probe.

In Las Vegas the company owns Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and MountainView Hospital.