About Waud Capital Partners
Based in Chicago, Waud Capital Partners is a leading growth-oriented private equity firm with total capital commitments of approximately $2.1 billion since its founding in 1993. Waud Capital partners with exceptional management teams to build market leading companies within two industries: healthcare services and business and technology services. Since its founding, Waud Capital has successfully completed more than 225 investments, including platform companies and follow-on opportunities.
Waud Capital started to invest its fourth fund, with $1.056 billion of total capital commitments, in January 2017 with the initial investment in Unifeye Vision Partners (Minnesota Eye Consultants).
New Investments
New Platform Companies
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Unifeye Vision Partners – January 2017 Waud Capital announced that it had entered into a partnership with Minnesota Eye Consultants, one of the premier providers of clinical eye care services in the United States, and formed Unifeye Vision Partners in conjunction with the partnership. Read more. |
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ChiroTouch – June 2017 Waud Capital announced its investment in ChiroTouch, the leading provider of electronic health records and practice management software for the chiropractic and other therapy markets. Read more. |
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Sphere Payments – August 2017 Waud Capital formed Sphere Payments through the acquisitions of TrustCommerce and Anovia Payments, creating a leading provider of end-to-end integrated payments, security software, payments gateway and merchant acquiring products and services. Read more. |
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Adult & Pediatric Dermatology – September 2017 Waud Capital announced that it had entered into a partnership with Adult & Pediatric Dermatology, a leading provider of dermatology services in the United States. Read more. |
Follow-on Investments
Waud Capital portfolio companies completed 23 follow-on acquisitions during 2017:
Dimensional Management completed eight acquisitions in 2017, including the acquisition of Brighter Dental, a practice with 14 offices in New Jersey. Additionally, the company continued to expand its affiliations with established dental groups in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Read more.
Ivy Rehab completed ten acquisitions, expanding the company’s geographic presence from five to eight states. Additionally, in May 2017, Ivy Rehab appointed Michael Rucker as Chief Executive Officer. Read more.
PSI Services completed four acquisitions in 2017, including the transformational acquisition of Performance Assessment Network, a recognized leader in talent assessments and measurement solutions for the Corporate, Government and Education marketplace worldwide. Read more.
Sphere Payments/TrustCommerce acquired Anovia Payments, an innovative payments solutions provider for small and medium-sized businesses across a range of end-markets. Read more.
Realizations
Acadia |
Waud Capital completed the sale of its shares in Acadia Healthcare, a leading provider of inpatient behavioral healthcare services. |
Additions to Team
Andrew Rueff joined Waud Capital as Operating Partner to pursue investments in the payments and financial technology sector. Mr. Rueff is a veteran of the payments industry with over 20 years of experience. Previously, he was one of the original founders and architects of the recapitalization of TransFirst Holdings that was acquired by TSYS in January 2016. In September 2017, Mr. Rueff became Executive Chairman of Sphere Payments. Read more.
Tim Cremieux joined Waud Capital as Vice President. Mr. Cremieux joins from GenNx360 Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on investing in industrial and business services companies in the U.S. middle market, where he served as Vice President. Mr. Cremieux brings nearly seven years of private equity and investment banking experience to Waud Capital and has previously worked at GTCR, LLC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Read more.
Richard Roggeveen joined Waud Capital as Vice President. Previously, Mr. Roggeveen was with GTCR, LLC, a Chicago-based middle-market private equity firm, where he was actively involved in all aspects of the firm’s investment process, including deal origination, execution and the monitoring of portfolio companies. Read more.
David Prendergast joined Waud Capital as Vice President – Business Development. Previously, Mr. Prendergast served as Vice President at Great Point Partners, LLC, a healthcare private equity firm specializing in growth capital investments. Read more.
Meghan Slentz joined Waud Capital as Director – Investor Relations. Ms. Slentz joins from Madison Dearborn Partners where she focused on investor relations and fundraising efforts. Read more.
During 2017, Waud Capital also welcomed three new Associates: John Blix, Daniel Marcus and Jonathan Pawlak.
New Executive-Led Initiatives
Waud Capital also entered into a partnership with Vincent Bradley, a highly-accomplished healthcare industry executive, to pursue investments in the multi-site healthcare industry. Waud Capital has initially committed $100 million of equity capital to the partnership. Mr. Bradley, a proven veteran of the multi-site healthcare industry for over 15 years, most recently served as the President & CEO of Banfield Pet Hospital, the largest general veterinary practice in the world. Read more.
Active Portfolio Companies
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Business and Technology Services |
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Investment Criteria
Waud Capital pairs exceptional talent with differentiated platforms. As part of this effort, Waud Capital is very research-focused and disciplined within industry sectors. Primary sector focus areas within healthcare services and business and technology services include:
- Healthcare Services: Behavioral; Corporate Wellness; Dental; Dermatology; Healthcare IT; Home Health; Leg Care / Podiatry; Molecular / Genetic; Optometry / Ophthalmology; Orthopedics; Payor Services; Pharmaceutical Services; Physical Therapy; Specialty Pharmacy; Toxicology; Urgent Care / Primary Care; Veterinary Services; Women’s Health
- Business and Technology Services: Corporate Certification and Training; Education; Financial Technology and Payments; Governance Risk and Compliance; Human Capital Management and HR Technology; Software (application-oriented); and broadly, technology-enabled business services
In addition to new platform investments, Waud Capital continues to evaluate consolidation opportunities within its existing portfolio across these industries.
Size
Waud Capital is flexible in its approach to capital deployment. Typically, Waud Capital seeks to invest $50 – $150 million in each portfolio company through a combination of platform and follow-on investments. This generally translates to investments in companies with enterprise values between $50 and $500 million (sometimes smaller for consolidating acquisitions).
Structure/Type
Waud Capital is a leading growth-orientated private equity firm. Type of transactions include:
- Control-oriented growth equity, industry consolidation, buyouts and recapitalizations
For additional information or if you would like to speak regarding a transaction opportunity, please contact either Phil Olson or Dave Prendergast. Contact details below.
For Further Information
Business Development Contacts
Phil Olson, Principal – Business Development (Business and Technology Services)
(312) 676-8401
[email protected]
David Prendergast, Vice President – Business Development (Healthcare Services)
(312) 676-8420
[email protected]
Investor Contact
Meghan Slentz, Director – Investor Relations
(312) 676-8431
[email protected]
Contact Information Update
Please email us here with any updates to your contact information.