Friedman, Fleischer & Lowe, (FFL)the private investment firm who owns and operated NCDR, LLC – Kool Smiles Dental Centers purchased Midwest Dental from Cressley & Company April 2011.
Cressley & Co, along with CIT Group were leaders in the recapitalizaition of Midwest Dental in May 2007. Cressley purchased MWD from Svoboda.
San Francisco-based FFL is investing out of its 2007-vintage Friedman Fleischer & Lowe Capital Partners III fund, which targets companies with enterprise values within the $50 million to $500 million range.Cressey & Company
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. FFL is acquiring the Mondovi, Wisc.-based target out of Thoma Cressey Bravo Fund VIII LP.
Chicago-based Thoma Cressey led a recapitalization of Midwest Dental in May 2007 and purchased all of its interests from Svoboda Collins LLC. Terms were not disclosed.
Calls to Aaron Money, the FFL partner leading the latest acquisition, were not returned. A spokesperson at Midwest Dental could not be reached.
FFL already owns two companies in the dental space. Portfolio companies NCDR LLC and DPMS Inc. provide facilities and support staff to dental groups operating under the Kool Smiles brand, according to the PE shop’s website. FFL acquired Atlanta-based NCDR and San Ramon, Calif.-based DRMS in 2004 and 2006 respectively.
[ NCDR, LLC and DPMS, Inc were really just Kool Smiles whether it be Kool Smiles 2 or Kool Smiles 3 or whatever. They merged a few months back and guess what, they are still NCDR, LLC - Kool Smiles]
Purchasing Midwest Dental would not serve as an add-on to NCDR or DRMS.
Other midmarket PE firms have capitalized on M&A within the dental space as well. On Dec. 29, Sentinel Capital Partners sold Phoenix-based ReachOut Healthcare America Ltd., a provider of dental support service and care to underprivileged children, seniors, and military personnel. Terms were not disclosed.
A month earlier, dental services company Smile Brands Group Inc., backed by Freeman Spogli & Co., found a new private equity owner in Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. The price of that secondary buyout was not disclosed, but the Santa Ana, Calif. company said last April that it hoped to go public with an enterprise value of about $470 million.
Here is the story from LBO WireCressey & Co. Passing Midwest Dental To Friedman Fleische Lowe
Shasha Dai
08 April 2011
Midwest Dental Holdings, a provider of management services to dental offices, may have its third private equity owner in four years if a pending sale to Friedman Fleischer & Lowe LLC proceeds as planned.
San Francisco firm Friedman Fleischer is buying the Mondovi, Wis., company from its current owner Cressey & Co., said a person familiar with the situation.
A spokesman for Friedman Fleischer declined to comment. David Schuppan, a Cressey principal; and Jim Myer, president and chief financial officer of Midwest, didn't return calls for comment.
Midwest provides management support for functions ranging from handling back-office work and marketing to finding medical assistants and dental hygienists.
Cressey's predecessor, Thoma Cressey Bravo, bought the company in 2007 from fellow buyout firm Svoboda Collins LLC for an undisclosed sum. LBO Wire reported then that Svoboda Collins saw more than three times its money, representing an internal rate of return of over 50%. Svoboda Collins acquired Midwest in 2004.
Midwest had about 450 employees, LBO Wire reported when Thoma Cressey Bravo bought the companyin 2007. More recent financial or staffing information wasn't available.
Thoma Bravo Cressey split in 2008 into two firms, Thoma Bravo and Cressey & Co., with the latter focusing on health-care investments.
Cressey & Co. closed its current fund, Cressey & Co. Fund IV LP, with $350 million in early 2010.
Reach Cressey & Co. at 312-945-5735.
http://www.cresseyco.com
The dental services provider may have its third private equity owner in four years if the sale goes through.
2525 West End Ave # 1175
Nashville, TN 37203-1793
(615) 369-8400
[Keystone Education and Youth Services, LLC has an office on West End Avenue in Nashville as well. According to Bloomberg, Michael Lindley, Rodney Cawood and Tim Richter are still the top dogs over there. They may have sold their interest to UHS, but I believe they really just did exactly what Jeff Moos did, recapitalized his income.]
Cressey & Company
233 South Wacker Dr.
Sears Tower, Ste 920
Chicago, IL 60606
312-777-4424
[Another odd factoid here, there is a Mike Lindley on the board of Mountain Dental and Midwest Dental-Mountain Dental is of the same company, but the clinics in Colorado and New Mexico are operated under the name of Mountain Dental-you can check the company filings at the Secretary of State offices in New Mexico for Mountain Dental and Secretary of State office of Iowa for Midwest Dental]
