Tenet Healthcare Corp. completed the $305 million sale Wednesday of USC University Hospital and Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital to the University of Southern California.

The deal required USC to pay $245 million to Tenet up front, with another $30 million held in an escrow account for up to four years. The Dallas-based hospital operator also gets to retain the two hospitals’ $30 million in working capital. The university has loaned the hospitals, which are self-supporting, roughly $40 million to cover expenses until new revenue starts flowing.

USC becomes only the second Los Angeles-area university, after UCLA, to own its own teaching hospitals. The two facilities total 471 inpatient beds and employ 1,600 workers. Mitchell R. Creem, a veteran univeristy and private sector hospital executive, was named chief executive of the two facilities following a nationwide search.

“The hospital acquisition is an historic investment by USC and a strategic move to create an integrated academic medical center,” said Provost C.L. Max Nikias in a statement.

USC sued in August 2006 to terminate its relationship with Tenet, which was the largest hospital operator in Los Angeles County before a Medicare billing scandal nearly took down the company earlier this decade. Tenet filed a counterclaim, and as part of the purchase agreement announced Feb. 10 the two sides dropped all lawsuits. The sale leaves Tenet with just a handful of small hospitals in the region.