Private Equity Spent Big in Health Care in Q4:18

Private Equity Spent Big in Health Care in Q4:18

Financial buyers, which include real estate investment trusts (REITs) and private equity firms, are not dominant players in the health care M&A market, although a few REIT deals have popped up in the Behavioral Health Care and Hospital sectors in recent years. But they have been very active. Valuations in several of the services sectors have kept many middle-market private equity firms on the side lines, as auctions may now include non-healthcare companies like Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. More often, strategic buyers outspend or even pre-empt an auction. Financial buyers are bullish on the healthcare market. In the fourth quarter, they accounted for 24% of the deal volume, with 120... Read More »
Private Equity Spent Big in Health Care in Q4:18

Acquisition of Civitas Tops 2018 Behavioral Health Care Deals

The biggest deal in the Behavioral Health Care sector featured a growing trend in healthcare M&A: a publicly traded company taken private. In this case, it was Centerbridge Partners buying Civitas Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: CIVI) for approximately $1.4 billion.  Founded in 1980, Civitas Solutions provides home- and community-based health and human services to must-serve individuals with intellectual, developmental, physical or behavioral disabilities and other special needs. The Boston-based company markets its services nationally as The Mentor Network and provides behavioral health care in 36 states. Under the terms of the agreement, Centerbridge will acquire all outstanding shares of... Read More »
Aurora Diagnostics Gets an Australian Owner

Aurora Diagnostics Gets an Australian Owner

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... Read More »
FastMed Plus NextCare Equals Urgent Care Giant

FastMed Plus NextCare Equals Urgent Care Giant

Consolidation continues in the urgent care services sector, as consumers and healthcare provider organizations look for lower-cost services outside hospital walls. One of the largest deals in this area in 2018 is FastMed Urgent Care’s acquisition of NextCare Holdings Inc., a portfolio company of Alcentra Capital Corp. since 2016. FastMed, the business name for Urgent Care Holdings of America, LLC, is backed by Abry Partners and BlueMountain Capital Management. The company owns and operates 110 clinics in Arizona, North Carolina and Texas. NextCare operates 141  facilities in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming. The... Read More »
ScribeAmerica Inks Another Medical Scribe Deal

ScribeAmerica Inks Another Medical Scribe Deal

ScribeAmerica, a subsidiary of HealthChannels, announced its acquisition of PhysAssist Medical Scribes on November 1, bringing its total number of scribes close to 19,000. In 2008, PhysAssist had two corporate employees and 35 scribes. A year after TeamHealth Holdings acquired it in October 2014 with minority investors Vesey Street Capital Partners and Chicago Growth Partners, it had 2,500 professionals in 30 states. It now has approximately 3,500 scribes in 36 states. Moody’s Investors Service rated the $160 million debt-financed acquisition as credit negative, because it would increase the company’s financial leverage and elevate integration risk. The transaction, including... Read More »
PE Firms Target Healthcare Staffing Services

PE Firms Target Healthcare Staffing Services

Who says good help is hard to find? Just about every healthcare provider in the United States, it seems.  The growing shortage of doctors and nurses, together with the recent near-record low U.S. unemployment rates, has brought the healthcare staffing services segment into sharp focus for investors. Through mid-November, 18 deals targeting these companies have been announced in 2018, compared with 16 in 2017 and 10 in all of 2016. Five of this year’s deals had private equity firms as acquirers, and five others were made by PE-sponsored firms. The most recent transaction was announced by HNI Healthcare, a portfolio company of Sante Ventures based in Austin, Texas. HNI recruits,... Read More »