Argosy Healthcare Partners (AHP) has announced the recapitalization of Nicklas Medical Staffing (NMS).

NMS, founded in 2013 and based in Jacksonville, Florida, provides staffing solutions for pathology and histology labs.

AHP, based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, is a lower middle market private equity investor focused exclusively on healthcare. A division of Argosy Capital, AHP typically pursues majority control transactions in U.S.-based, founder-owned healthcare businesses with $1 million to $3 million of EBITDA.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

By Kevin Madagan

Ampersand Capital Partners has announced its acquisition of Nektar Therapeutics’ PEGylation reagent manufacturing business.

The business, which will be branded Gannet BioChem and continue to operate out of its facility in Huntsville, Alabama, develops, scales and manufactures polyethylene glycol (PEG) reagents, which are used in advanced biopharmaceutical and therapeutic products.

Ampersand, based in Wellesley, Mass., is a middle market private equity firm with a focus on growth equity investments in the healthcare sector within North America, Europe and the Asia–Pacific region. Founded in 1988, the firm typically pursues majority or minority positions in companies generating between $10 million and $200 million in revenue.

When the transaction was initially announced in November, Nektar (Nasdaq: NKTR) reported it would receive $90 million in total consideration for the business, comprised of $70 million in cash and $20 million equity ownership in the new portfolio company.

Frazier Healthcare Partners has announced the closing of a new fund with $2.3 billion of commitments.

The fund, Frazier Healthcare Growth Buyout Fund XI, was oversubscribed and hit its hard cap in six months. The fund will focus on acquiring controlling interests in middle-market healthcare companies.

Frazier, based in Seattle, is a provider of private equity capital to healthcare companies. The firm, founded in 1991, prefers to make more substantial investments from a dollars perspective and pursues a wide range of investment types, including company creation and venture capital to buyouts of profitable lower-middle market companies.

As the pharma services sector grows, regulators at the Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration are putting everything from clinical trials to site management under the microscope.

McGuireWoods partner Clint Narver speaks from experience: He joined the firm after serving in leadership roles at both agencies. With host Geoff Cockrell, Clint helps industry stakeholders understand regulators’ enforcement priorities. He covers the responsibilities of clinical research organizations, the impact of decentralized clinical trials on regulatory oversight and the importance of corporate compliance in avoiding enforcement actions. He has also addressed these topics in a recent alert.

To investors looking at acquiring a company, Clint notes that DOJ’s recent Mergers & Acquisitions Safe Harbor Policy is designed to incentivize the disclosure of corporate crime that is uncovered through the due diligence process.

At fast-growing Allied Digestive Health, with 194 gastrointestinal (GI) physicians, 75 nurse practitioners and locations throughout New Jersey and New York, COO Sap Sinha is excited about the future. “Private equity in general is looking at GI very specifically, and there are multiple reasons for it,” Sap says in this conversation with McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell.

One reason is that colon cancer is the second-largest cause of cancer death in the United States. Sap describes the current landscape, in which Allied focuses on clinical quality and partnerships with large institutions. It also invests in frontier treatments, such as the use of genetic testing to detect colon cancer and weight management tools to control liver disease among obese patients.

Arlington Capital Partners has announced its acquisition of TEAM Technologies from Clearlake Capital Group.

TEAM Tech, founded in 1988 and based in Morristown, Tennessee, is a manufacturing solutions provider for medical and dental products.

Arlington Capital, founded in 1999 and based in Washington, D.C., is a private equity firm specializing in government-regulated industries, including healthcare.

Clearlake, founded in 2006 and based in Santa Monica, California, is a private equity firm focusing on the technology, industrial and consumer sectors.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Shore Capital Partners has announced the recapitalization of Point C.

Point C, founded in 2020 and based in Chicago, is a third-party administrator of medical benefits, cost containment and other administrative services for self-insured employers.

Shore Capital, based in Chicago, pursues investments in the lower middle market in healthcare and several other industries. Founded in 2009, the firm pursues control equity investments in the healthcare services, products and distribution markets through a range of investment amounts. Within healthcare, Shore seeks to invest in the provider services and non-reimbursement industries.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

H.I.G. Capital has announced a significant growth investment in Carebox.

Carebox, founded in 2014 and based in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a software platform that connects patients, families and physicians with treatment options only available in clinical trials.

H.I.G. Capital, based in Miami, pursues a wide range of investments in healthcare and many other industries. Founded in 1993, the firm has flexibility on investment size, including interest in pre-EBITDA businesses. Within healthcare, the firm targets companies in the provider services, hospital/major facilities and life sciences/pharmaceutical industries.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell talks to Steve DeLong, founder and co-CEO of Bluetree Dental, about growing a dental service organization (DSO) in a competitive healthcare landscape. 

Bluetree, which has expanded to more than 40 offices across six states since its inception in 2012, represents a successful model of combining de novo growth with acquisitions. Steve emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between central guidance and local practice autonomy, ensuring that dental professionals retain a degree of control over their operations. Geoff and Steve cover the strategic alignment of interests between a DSO and its dental providers, detailing Bluetree’s approach to equity ownership and partnership models.

Steve also shares insights about Bluetree’s decision to partner with Clairvest Group for a minority private equity investment, highlighting the preference for a cautious, long-term growth strategy over rapid expansion.

Ampersand Capital Partners and GHO Capital Partners will acquire Avid Bioservices for approximately $1.1 billion, according to a news release.

Avid (NASDAQ: CDMO), formed in 2002 and based in Orange County, California, is a biologics contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) that provides services to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

Ampersand, based in Wellesley, Mass., is a middle market private equity firm with a focus on growth equity investments in the healthcare sector within North America, Europe and the Asia–Pacific region. Founded in 1988, the firm typically pursues majority or minority positions in companies generating between $10 million and $200 million in revenue.

GHO, or Global Healthcare Opportunities, is a London-based specialist healthcare investor.

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.