With three announced acquisitions on the books in 2016, Acadia Healthcare Company (NASDAQ: ACHC) was forced to sell some of its portfolio, for a change. The Franklin, Tennessee-based behavioral health company has been quite active over in the United Kingdom since 2014, when it acquired Partnerships in Care (PiC) for $662 million.At the time, PiC was the second largest independent provider of behavioral healthcare services in the United Kingdom, operating 23 inpatient psychiatric facilities with more than 1,200 beds. The sale worked out to 2.3x price-to-revenue and 8.8x price-to-EBITDA.
In 2015, Acadia added Care UK, Choice Lifestyles and The Manor Clinic. Care UK operates 15 inpatient facilities with approximately 300 beds, providing behavioral health services to children, adolescents and adults. Choice Lifestyles, also in the UK, is a single facility with 42 beds. Those acquisitions were announced simultaneoulsy with a U.S.-based entity, and the aggregate price for the lot was $145 million. The Manor Clinic, a 15-bed residential rehabilitation facility focused on treating addictions, fetched $14 million.
In January 2016, Acadia made its biggest bet on behavioral health care in the UK, with its acquisition of The Priory Group, which operates more than 300 facilities with approximately 7,200 beds.. The $2.2 billion price went to paying down approximately $1.4 billion in debt for Priory, and worked out to approximately 2.6x p/r and 11.4x p/EBITDA. And $309,062 per bed.
However, as a condition toward gaining approval of that sale from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Acadia agreed to sell 21 existing behavioral health facilities and one de novo facility not yet opened. The facilities have approximately 1,000 beds. London-based BC Partners, a pan-European buy-out firm, payed approximately $390 million (£320 million) for the lot, about $390,000 per bed.
Nice appreciation since January. The CMA is expected to approve this transaction on or before November 18, 2016.
