UNC Health Care to consider WakeMed's bid for Rex

RALEIGH, N.C. — The UNC Health Care System announced Monday night that it has created a special committee to consider WakeMed Health & Hospitals' proposal to buy cross-town rival Rex Healthcare in Raleigh.

In an email, a spokesman for UNC Health Care wrote that "while we continue to believe that it is not in the best interest of the citizens of the state or Wake County to divest the Health Care System's interest in Rex, we must act in accordance with our fiduciary responsibility to consider WakeMed's proposal." The committee is expected to review the proposal over the next several weeks and then make a recommendation to the UNC system's board of directors. In May, WakeMed offered to buy Rex Healthcare from UNC for $750 million. The UNC system has run Rex since it merged with UNC Health Care in 2000.