TENET HEALTHCARE: TO ACQUIRE ORNDA HEALTHCORP

      Santa Barbara, CA-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. is expected
 to announce today an agreement to acquire OrNda Healthcorp. for
 $1.82 billion in stock, WALL STREET JOURNAL reports. Tenet, 
 the "nation's second-largest hospital company," would assume 
 about $1.3 billion of OrNda's debt to create a "hospital chain 
 with $8.5 million in revenue and 126 hospitals in 22 states." 
 Tenet currently owns 76 hospitals in 13 states. Nashville, TN-based 
 OrNda, "the third-largest investor-owned hospital company," owns
 50 hospitals in 15 states.  JOURNAL reports that the deal, which
 comes less than two years after Tenet acquired American Holdings
 Inc. for $2 billion, "underscores the pressures on health care
 companies to grow big enough to compete in a consolidating
 market."  
      COMMON MARKETS:  JOURNAL reports that the acquisition of
 OrNda "would strengthen Tenet's competitive position against"
 Nashville-based Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp., the nation's 
 largest hospital owner.  The deal "will bolster" Tenet's
 operations in Texas, Florida and Southern California.  "We will
 be the largest integrated provider system in Southern
 California," said Jeffrey Barbakow, chairman and CEO of Tenet. 
 The system will add 16 hospitals to Tenet's current 13 in
 Southern California, he added.  Charles Martin, OrNda chairman,
 president and CEO, said, "We're in common markets with Tenet but
 in a way that's complementary rather than competitive."  He added
 that although the companies both have southern Florida hospitals,
 they are distant enough that they are not in direct competition. 
 JOURNAL reports that Martin "doesn't expect the combination to
 raise antitrust concerns."
      CHANGES:  "The transaction is expected to save $70 million
 through corporate overhead reductions, reduced interest expenses
 and network consolidations" during the first year.  The
 agreement, signed yesterday by both companies, is subject to
 shareholder and regulatory approval.  The transaction is expected
 to be completed by the end of March (Rundle/Lipin, 10/17).