Private equity firm Apollo Global Management will spend about $5.6 billion to buy the rural hospital chain LifePoint and combine it with health system operator RCCH HealthCare Partners.

LifePoint shareholders will receive $65 in cash for each share in a deal that's worth about $2.7 billion not counting net debt and minority interest, the companies said. That's a premium of nearly 36 percent to Brentwood, Tennessee-based LifePoint Health Inc.'s closing price July 20. That was the last trading day before the deal announcement.

LifePoint has operations in 22 states, including community hospitals and regional health systems.

The combined, privately held company will operate under the LifePoint name and be led by the hospital chain's chairman and CEO, William F. Carpenter III. It will run 84 hospitals in 30 states as well as physician practices, outpatient centers and regional health systems. It also will be based in Brentwood, Tennessee, where both firms are currently based.

The deal still needs approval from LifePoint shareholders and regulators. The companies expect to complete it over the next several months.

Shares of LifePoint jumped 34 percent to $64.25 in premarket trading.

Monday's announcement comes more than a month after another private equity firm, KKR, said it would spend about $9.9 billion on physician services provider and surgery center operator Envision Healthcare Corp.