HDL, located on Fifth Street downtown, is pulling back from some of its outside investments. Photo by Burl Rolett.
Health Diagnostic Laboratory is shedding more weight.
The downtown lab company has agreed to sell its ownership stake in locally based Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory for a total of $4 million. The deal follows recent layoffs of more than 200 employees from the once fast-growing firm and a settlement of at least $47 million the company reached with the federal government.
Ontario-based GeneNews and Alabama-based Cobalt Healthcare Consultants will buy HDL’s 33.3 percent stake of IDL, the companies announced Tuesday.
Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory is a joint venture created in mid-2013 by HDL, GeneNews and Cobalt. IDL has its headquarters in Richmond at 8751 Park Central Drive. It offers blood-based tests, largely for colon, lung and prostate cancers.
GeneNews and Cobalt will each pay HDL $1 million in cash and another $1 million each through one-year secured promissory notes.
In explaining the sale of its IDL stake, HDL referred to an announcement it made in November in conjunction with the elimination of 132 employees and its decision to focus on its “core mission.”
“In recent years, HDL, Inc. had become involved in a number of non-core business interests that required significant time, attention and resources,” it said at the time.
In Tuesday’s announcement it said, “The transaction evidences the fact that HDL is executing on its previously announced business plan.”
About six months ago, HDL quietly broke ties with another upstart Richmond company, C3 Nexus.
C3 Nexus co-founder Nuno Valentine said the two companies parted ways in November.
In addition to providing funds, HDL had effectively acted as C3 Nexus’ incubator and housed the startup in its downtown headquarters. Valentine said HDL stopped investing in C3 Nexus, and the startup moved into a new home at 2575 Homeview Drive.
C3 Nexus caters to recently released hospital patients with technology that remotely monitors their heart rate, respiration rate, posture, position and movement.
Despite parting ways with HDL, Valentine said C3 Nexus continues to flourish.
“We’re doing well; we still have investors that are nationwide,” he said.
The extra $4 million from the IDL deal may come in handy for HDL.
The company recently agreed to pay at least $47 million to settle a federal kickback investigation, and it is in the midst of two multimillion-dollar lawsuits with large health insurance companies.
HDL’s deal with Cobalt Healthcare Consultants includes some familiar faces.
Brad Johnson and Floyd Calhoun Dent, co-founders of HDL’s former sales contractor BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, are executives of the company. Dent is CEO, and Johnson is a vice president and co-owner of Cobalt.
BlueWave, Dent and Johnson are also wrapped up in the same federal investigation that HDL recently settled. The government has said Johnson, Dent and BlueWave may face charges in the future, along with HDL’s former CEO and co-founder Tonya Mallory.
HDL, located on Fifth Street downtown, is pulling back from some of its outside investments. Photo by Burl Rolett.
Health Diagnostic Laboratory is shedding more weight.
The downtown lab company has agreed to sell its ownership stake in locally based Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory for a total of $4 million. The deal follows recent layoffs of more than 200 employees from the once fast-growing firm and a settlement of at least $47 million the company reached with the federal government.
Ontario-based GeneNews and Alabama-based Cobalt Healthcare Consultants will buy HDL’s 33.3 percent stake of IDL, the companies announced Tuesday.
Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory is a joint venture created in mid-2013 by HDL, GeneNews and Cobalt. IDL has its headquarters in Richmond at 8751 Park Central Drive. It offers blood-based tests, largely for colon, lung and prostate cancers.
GeneNews and Cobalt will each pay HDL $1 million in cash and another $1 million each through one-year secured promissory notes.
In explaining the sale of its IDL stake, HDL referred to an announcement it made in November in conjunction with the elimination of 132 employees and its decision to focus on its “core mission.”
“In recent years, HDL, Inc. had become involved in a number of non-core business interests that required significant time, attention and resources,” it said at the time.
In Tuesday’s announcement it said, “The transaction evidences the fact that HDL is executing on its previously announced business plan.”
About six months ago, HDL quietly broke ties with another upstart Richmond company, C3 Nexus.
C3 Nexus co-founder Nuno Valentine said the two companies parted ways in November.
In addition to providing funds, HDL had effectively acted as C3 Nexus’ incubator and housed the startup in its downtown headquarters. Valentine said HDL stopped investing in C3 Nexus, and the startup moved into a new home at 2575 Homeview Drive.
C3 Nexus caters to recently released hospital patients with technology that remotely monitors their heart rate, respiration rate, posture, position and movement.
Despite parting ways with HDL, Valentine said C3 Nexus continues to flourish.
“We’re doing well; we still have investors that are nationwide,” he said.
The extra $4 million from the IDL deal may come in handy for HDL.
The company recently agreed to pay at least $47 million to settle a federal kickback investigation, and it is in the midst of two multimillion-dollar lawsuits with large health insurance companies.
HDL’s deal with Cobalt Healthcare Consultants includes some familiar faces.
Brad Johnson and Floyd Calhoun Dent, co-founders of HDL’s former sales contractor BlueWave Healthcare Consultants, are executives of the company. Dent is CEO, and Johnson is a vice president and co-owner of Cobalt.
BlueWave, Dent and Johnson are also wrapped up in the same federal investigation that HDL recently settled. The government has said Johnson, Dent and BlueWave may face charges in the future, along with HDL’s former CEO and co-founder Tonya Mallory.