Harren Equity Partners Sponsors Recapitalization of Health Connect America
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, January 8, 2018 Harren Equity Partners (“Harren”), a private equity firm dedicated to the lower middle market, is pleased to announce that it has completed the recapitalization, in partnership with management, of Health Connect America, Inc. (“HCA” or the “Company”). This transaction represents the sixth platform investment executed by Harren out of its third fund, Harren Investors III, which holds aggregate commitments of $275 million.
Based in Franklin, TN, HCA provides a diversified suite of behavioral health services to youth, adolescents and families primarily in home-based, community-based and clinic-based settings. By providing personalized and innovative treatment to individuals at-risk, the Company supports the preservation of families, thereby developing long-term stability and enhanced quality of life. HCA employs evidence-based, clinical treatment modalities to address a wide range of mental health issues including conduct disorder, substance abuse, sexual abuse, autism spectrum disorder and serious emotional disturbance. Health Connect focuses on providing quality care to underserved families currently in the southeastern United States, where high quality care is often in limited supply.
Taylor Cole led the investment for Harren, drawing upon his prior experience monitoring the market for nearly twenty years. Mr. Cole stated that “as the population of people in need of these support services continues to climb, we could not be more pleased to partner with the leadership team at Health Connect America to provide the resources required to build capacity to meet those needs.” He continued, “our objective is to support the Company’s organic growth opportunities as well as undertake a strategy of making highly complementary add-on acquisitions with like-minded owner-operators in this underserved area of behavioral health.”
This investment is the result of Harren working closely with a seasoned behavioral healthcare executive, John Harcourt, through its Harren Executive Program (“HXP”). Within the HXP framework, Harren and Mr. Harcourt sought to back a platform that represented a strong operating model, attractive growth prospects and an outstanding management team. Mr. Harcourt has committed his entire career to the behavioral health industry including serving as CEO of numerous companies, most recently at Camelot Schools, which was sponsored by Mr. Cole while at his prior firm. Mr. Harcourt will serve as a Board member, strategic advisor and individual investor in Health Connect going forward.
Kristi Shain, Chief Executive Officer of HCA, commented on the new partnership, saying, “while we werent actively seeking financial sponsorship, the connection we found with Taylor, John and the entire team at Harren made it clear that our Company would benefit by having them join the Health Connect family. Taylor’s investment background in the sector, coupled with John’s illustrative career as an operator and industry thought-leader, presented a very compelling financial and strategic fit for Health Connect as we embark upon our next phase of growth and expansion.”
This investment continues Harrens track record of backing strong management teams at leading businesses with high growth potential within the healthcare industry. Harren’s other healthcare experience includes its current investment in MedPro Healthcare Staffing, a leading provider of medical staffing solutions to healthcare organizations in the United States, Persante Healthcare, one of the foremost providers of sleep disorder diagnostic and therapeutic solutions, as well as Med-Legal, a leading provider of technology-enabled record retrieval and review services in the workers’ compensation and personal injury markets.
