Aurora Diagnostics, founded and funded by Summit Partners since 2006, has been acquired by Sonic Healthcare (ASX: SHL), a global medical diagnostics company based in Macquarie Park, New South Wales, Australia, for $540 million.
Aurora is a specialized laboratory company focused on anatomical pathology. It employs 1,200 staff, including approximately 220 pathologists, at 32 laboratories in 19 states. The labs process approximately 2.5 million accessions per year, received from about 23,000 referring physicians and through more than 100 hospital contracts across the country.
According to Sonic, Aurora generated pro forma revenue of approximately $310 million (A$431 million) and pro forma EBITDA of approximately $59 million (A$82 million) in the 12 months ending on September 30, 2018.
The deal transforms Sonic’s existing U.S. operations, adding a high-quality pathologist team that provides critical mass for growth in the anatomical and clinical pathology markets, organically and through further acquisitions. Aurora’s 220 pathologists will join Sonic’s global team of 700 pathologists.
Prior to this announcement, Aurora was a busy acquirer of U.S. pathology labs and practices. This year, it acquired Cascade Pathology Services, a multi-specialty practice providing surgical pathology services to hospitals and physicians in the Portland, Oregon area.
In 2017, the company announced five acquisitions: University Pathologists in Warwick, Rhode Island; Pathology Associates of Princeton in Plainsboro Township, New Jersey; Cleveland Skin Pathology Laboratory, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio; CytoPath in Alabaster, Alabama; and CBM Pathology in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
