GASTONIA – Fitch Ratings assigned an AA- rating with a stable outlook to about $171 million of planned CaroMont Health bonds, with $150 million earmarked for the health system’s new cancer center.
The Sept. 14 rating action applies to planned Series 2026A revenue bonds expected to be issued through the North Carolina Medical Care Commission. Fitch said the approximately $171 million issue would include $150 million for the cancer-center project. The rating action did not say the bonds had been sold or that financing had closed.
The North Carolina Local Government Commission authorized CaroMont on Sept. 1 to issue up to $350 million through the Medical Care Commission. A Sept. 3 Bond Buyer report described a preliminary structure of $252.6 million in Series 2026A bonds and $91 million in Series 2026B bonds, with an October sale expected. The later Fitch action covers a smaller, approximately $171 million Series 2026A issue; the sources did not explain the change.
The broader state authorization allowed proceeds to refinance earlier CaroMont debt and help finance the cancer center and a parking deck, according to The Bond Buyer.
CaroMont began construction May 15 on a 125,000-square-foot cancer center at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia. The health system said the facility will bring medical oncology, radiation therapy, imaging, diagnostics, laboratory, pharmacy and support services into one location.
The center is the centerpiece of a $200 million oncology investment that also includes a hematology and oncology office in Belmont and a proposed radiation-therapy center in Belmont that remained subject to state approval when CaroMont announced the project. CaroMont said the investment is intended to double oncology capacity, allowing it to serve about 3,000 new cancer patients annually; it currently provides oncology care to more than 1,500 patients each year.