Plan to Sell Ambulance Company Not Setting Off Alarms

American Medical Response, Ventura County’s largest ambulance provider, has been put on the auction block by its parent company, but few expect the sale to result in any disruption of service.

AMR, a Colorado-based firm that serves east county and some west county communities, was put up for sale by its parent, Laidlaw Inc. of Ontario, Canada, late last month.

Laidlaw officials said the company is divesting itself of several subsidiary companies so it can concentrate on its transportation division, which recently acquired Greyhound Lines.

Company officials say they do not expect the sale to affect the level of service in the county or elsewhere.

“Laidlaw has been adamant about selling the company as a whole and not parceling it off,” said local AMR spokesman Mike Reynolds. “When it is sold, I don’t think anybody will be able to tell the difference; we’re still going to have all the ambulances and personnel we have now.”

AMR, which has 20,000 employees in 36 states, is the nation’s largest ambulance service. Every year it transports more than 6 million people for treatment.

Laidlaw bought AMR a little more than two years ago for about $1.2 billion.

The decision to sell, company officials said, was not due to a poor profit showing. In fact, AMR is a successful company that expects to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year.

In addition to AMR, Laidlaw will sell EmCare, an emergency management service, and Safety-Kleen Corp., which cleans industrial sites. Laidlaw hopes to net about $2 billion by selling the companies and expects the transfers to be completed within the next year.

That money, said Laidlaw President James Bullock, will allow the company to trim its debt and give it more liquidity to concentrate on its transportation divisions.

“Selling these assets will unlock value not presently reflected in our [stock value],” he said in a written statement, adding that the infusion of cash will allow the company to expand its North American operations and better position itself against competitors.

The company operates 23 ambulances locally and employs about 100 people.

The company’s Ventura County officials said they are not overly concerned about the sale and feel it may give them the opportunity to provide better service.

“[Laidlaw] seems pretty committed to making sure that the company stays intact,” said Douglas Emslie, AMR’s local operations manager. “I think that with the right buyer, we could be doing more and running a better business, which is what we want to do.”

Local hospital officials also expressed little concern over the sale, saying they expect AMR to continue providing the same level of service.

“The transition, I think, will be seamless,” said Kris Karroway-Bowman, spokeswoman for Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. “We’ve always worked well with them, and the quality has always been top-notch. That’s something I believe will continue no matter who owns the company.”