18 Dec 2012 Sale of Advantage Healthcare
Rutland Partners, the specialist turnaround and restructuring investor, announces that on 18 December 2012 it agreed and completed the sale of Advantage Healthcare (“Advantage”), a leading healthcare services provider, to Interserve plc (“Interserve”) for a cash consideration of £26.5 million.
Rutland acquired Advantage, originally a group of businesses trading under the name BUPA Healthcare Professionals, from BUPA in March 2005 for £9.0 million. Under Rutland’s ownership, a standalone business was established under the Advantage brand which has been transformed into one of the UK’s leading home healthcare services providers.
Advantage Healthcare now operates from a national network of 27 branches and provides a broad range of home healthcare services to public and private organisations and users. For the year ending 31 December 2012, Advantage is forecast to report revenues of c.£41 million and EBITDA of c.£3.0 million. The transaction represents a return of 2.6 times Rutland’s equity investment.
Oliver Jones, Partner of Rutland, said:
“This deal is a prime example of our investment strategy and is a great result for our investors and management. We are proud of the transformation of Advantage from a healthcare staffing business into a leading home healthcare services provider, and would like to thank the entire team at Advantage for the dedicated work over many years to deliver this result. Advantage today is a business with a strong brand and a leading reputation in the home healthcare market, and we wish Interserve and management every success for the future.”
Phil Burrows, Managing Director of Advantage Healthcare, said:
“We are very excited about our future and to be working as part of the Interserve group. The Interserve brand, presence and reputation in the provision of front-line support services provides an excellent platform for further growth from Advantage, building on our very positive reputation in the market place and strong performance track record. The management team thank Rutland for their dedication and support in turning around and helping to develop our business over the past seven years. We now look forward to increasing our presence and share of the home healthcare services market through new developments and initiatives generated through the Interserve group.“
Adrian Ringrose, CEO of Interserve said:
“We see the Healthcare and care at home sector as key growth markets and this acquisition both expands our capability, while also being a further step towards delivering the Group’s medium term strategy of greater front-line service provision. As part of Interserve, we believe Advantage’s growth will be accelerated through innovation, enhanced business development across a wider client base and a number of operational efficiencies.”
The sale of Advantage is the fourth exit this year for Rutland across both its funds following the recent sales of NoteMachine (Fund I) and Pulse Home Products (Fund II) both in August this year and also Attends Healthcare (Fund II) in February 2012. Total proceeds realised for fund investors from these investments were circa. £190m.
These four exits complement a busy year for Rutland on the deal front with new investments in Buy As You View and Pizza Hut UK Dine-In Restaurants as well as two bolt-on acquisitions for Brandon Hire and Laidlaw Interiors Group.
The transaction was led on behalf of Rutland by Oliver Jones with support from Nick Morrill. PWC provided financial advice to Rutland, Eversheds acted as legal advisor to Rutland, with Walker Morris providing legal advice to management.
Advantage Healthcare Project Story