Deal of the Week: Almost Family/LHC Group

The Home Health & Hospice sector is gearing up for a busy 2018, compared with the sluggish performance turned so far in 2017. Two leading companies, LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) and Almost Family (NASDAQ: AFAM) announced a “merger of equals” on November 16. That transaction followed third-quarter earnings calls from Amedysis (NASDAQ: AMED) and Brookdale Senior Living (NYSE: BKD) with each CEO discussing aggressive moves into the hospice sector. Bring it on! M&A activity in the Home Health & Hospice sector has been slow, to say the least, throughout 2017. Prior to the LHC/Almost Family announcement, just 41 deals were reported through mid-November, with a meager $20.9 million in... Read More »

2016 Home Health and Hospice Deals Picked Up

After a rough 2015, when the M&A bubble burst in this sector, deal volume in 2016 showed signs of recovery. Fifty-seven deals were announced in 2016, a 12% increase compared with the previous year. A few companies accounted for several deals. Jordan Health Services, a portfolio company of Palladium Equity Partners, led with five transactions. Epic Health Services, a portfolio company of Webster Capital, announced four deals, as did Kindred Healthcare (NYSE: KND). The latter company surprised many observers with its announcement that it was leaving the skilled nursing space to concentrate more on long-term acute care hospitals and home health and hospice agencies. We expect at least a... Read More »

Bain Capital Expands its Pediatric Home Health Platform

In less than a month, Bain Capital Private Equity has built a major pediatric home health care platform. It began on December 19,  2016, with Bain’s announcement that it was acquiring Dallas, Texas-based Epic Health Services, from Webster Capital. On January 17, 2017, the global private equity firm announced a deal for Atlanta, Georgia-based PSA Healthcare, sold by J.H. Whitney Capital Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed in either deal. J.H. Whitney acquired PSA Healthcare, then known as Pediatric Services of America, Inc., in March 2015, for an undisclosed price. PSA specialized in caring for medically fragile children at home, caring for more than 2,500 patients through 65... Read More »