Private Equity Deal Spotlight | Weekly Update

Health care continues to drive private equity (“PE”) activity, creating opportunities for investors and traditional health care providers. Transactions in the health care space are especially complicated, layering health care regulatory and reimbursement considerations on top of a complex securities, antitrust, privacy and security framework.

Hall Render’s PE team of attorneys and advisors leverage the strength and depth of our bench to navigate and efficiently execute PE transactions. The summary below includes highlights of recent PE deals and legislative updates.

• Cardiovascular Associates of America, a Webster Equity Partners-backed cardiology management group, recently acquired Novolink Health, an organization providing home-based care to high-risk, high-cost patients. Novolink Health focuses on treating patients with chronic conditions in their homes to avoid travel and further medical complications. Cardiovascular Associates of America has more than 20 cardiology practices and approximately 400 cardiologists in its network. Webster Equity Partners is a PE firm focused on high-impact growth strategies in the health care industry.
• Steward Health Care reached an agreement to sell its physician group, Stewardship Health, to PE-backed Rural Healthcare Group which is a primary care provider specializing in delivering care to underserved communities throughout the U.S. Experts describe the agreement as a major win for Steward Health Care, which has sought to offload the physician group since December in connection with its bankruptcy proceedings. Rural Healthcare Group is an affiliate of Kinderhook Industries, a PE group with a portfolio of health care-related companies.
• The Carlyle Group signed an agreement with Baxter International, Inc. to acquire its Vantive kidney care group. Vantive is a dialysis, organ support and acute renal therapy provider that generated more than $4.45 billion in revenue throughout 2023 and reached over one million patients around the world. Reportedly, the deal is valued at close to $3.8 billion and includes nearly 23,000 employees. The Carlyle Group is a Washington, D.C.-based global PE firm with over $425 billion in assets under management.
• The Healthcare Foundation of Wilson agreed to sell its minority stake in the Wilson Medical Center to Duke LifePoint Healthcare. Duke LifePoint Healthcare is a joint venture between Duke Health and LifePoint Health backed by Apollo Global Management, Inc. The transaction furthers The Healthcare Foundation of Wilson’s goal of improving access to health care as the funds from the sale are earmarked for a specific, undisclosed use. Apollo is a New York-based asset management firm focused on buyouts, corporate carve-outs and alternative assets.
• Francisco Partners announced the pending sale of QGenda to Hearst Health, a large global, diversified, information, services and media company. QGenda utilizes its health care workforce management platform ProviderCloud to support over 700,000 providers across more than 45 specialties. Pending regulatory approval, Hearst will add QGenda to its medical information and services business. Francisco Partners is a global technology investment firm with offices in San Francisco, California, Florida, New York and London and specializes in the health care and technology industries.