Poor Senator Bill Frist, the $33 billion leveraged buyout of hospital chain HCA Inc., which he's loosely affiliated with, will hang over his head as he prepares his Republican presidential campaign. Although Frist no longer has financial ties to HCA, which his
father and brother helped found, questions about his investments in the company continue to plague him. As a matter of fact, the Senate majority leader has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and federal prosecutors for his sale of HCA stock, which occurred near the stock's 52-week peak a little over a year ago. Of course, other insiders were selling off at the same time attracting the SEC's interest. At any rate, Frist probably got a better deal than the buyout firms are offering because he sold his shares near $58 a piece, but Bain Capital, KKR and Merrill Lynch Private Equity are offering $51 a share. Interestingly, Frist claims the sales were made to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest ahead of his planned 2008 presidential bid. —Matthew Wurtzel
See story from The Financial Times via MSNBC
See Frist's Web site
See story about the HCA buyout from The Deal
Continue reading below
