After launching Acorn Health in October 2018, MBF Healthcare Partners II, L.P. is selling the behavioral health platform in a new deal. The buyer is The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers), the administrator of Canada’s largest single-profession pension plan. It pays pensions and invests plan assets on behalf of 331,000 retired and working teachers. No terms were disclosed.
Acorn Health is an accredited national provider of high-quality applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy to children with autism spectrum disorder. The company employs approximately 1,200 individuals, serves more than 1,300 families, and operates a network of 51 clinics across seven states, including Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, Florida, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The partnership between MBF Healthcare Partners and Acord produced a number of transactions since 2018, including one back in March for Sandcastle Centers, which provides ABA therapy for children with autism in the Orlando, Florida market.
Ontario Teachers will provide additional capital to grow Acorn Health to meet the demand for autism treatment services. This is not the first dive into the healthcare market for Ontario Teachers. Back in November 2020, it acquired NVISION Eye Centers, which provides comprehensive eye care services in the United States, with 43 locations, including eight ambulatory surgery centers, across California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona. It seems like Ontario Teachers’ is finding success for their members in the U.S. healthcare market, so keep an eye out for more investments from the organization.
