CareMatrix considers going private.

The board of directors of CareMatrix Corporation, a Needham, Massachusetts-based assisted living company, has instructed management to explore entering into a leveraged recapitalization or other strategic alterative to maximize shareholder value.

Board member Donald Amaral has been engaged by the company as a consultant to help identify strategic alternatives.

CareMatrix Chairman and CEO Abraham Gosman said in a prepared statement that the "current valuation of the assisted living sector may indicate that it would be more conducive for CareMatrix to be a private company rather than being in the public market at this time. We expect to identify an investment banker to work with us in this process."

CareMatrix's stock, which is trading at less than $9 a share, is down 71 percent year-to-date following critical government reports about quality of care and consumer protection issues at assisted living facilities, and investor fears the industry may be overbuilt.

Gosman sold CareMatrix for about $250 million in stock three years ago to Standish Care Co. His plan for a management-led buyout is reminiscent of the sale, repurchase, and resale of Mediplex Group Inc., the nursing home concern he built. Such maneuvers resulted in Gosman's net worth soaring to an estimated $480 million in 1996. But Gosman has lost millions in recent years due to hard times at two of his other business ventures: Meditrust, a real estate investment trust, and PhyMatrix Corp., a physician practice management company.