In this episode of the Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast, Amber Walsh, Partner at McGuireWoods LLP, traces the momentum behind healthcare private equity — the physician specialties drawing the most capital, the staying power of ambulatory surgery center (ASC) strategies, and the market dynamics investors can’t ignore.

In this episode of the Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast, Holly Buckley, chair of the McGuireWoods’ healthcare department, explores what’s driving private equity interest in physician practice management, which specialties are attracting the most capital, and the operational factors shaping today’s deals.

WestView Capital Partners has completed a strategic minority investment in Helio Health Group, according to a news release.

HELIO, founded in 2015 and based in Morristown, New Jersey, is a life sciences consulting and technology firm providing compliance, government pricing and commercial services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including AI-enabled software solutions.

WestView, founded in 2004 and based in Boston, is focused on investing in middle market companies in several sectors, including healthcare technology and outsourcing. The firm pursues minority and majority recapitalizations, growth, and consolidation transactions.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

LLR Partners has completed a strategic investment in AxisCare, according to a news release.

AxisCare, founded in 2013 and based in Waco, Texas, is a provider of home care management software.

LLR Partners, founded in 1999 and based in Philadelphia, is a middle market private equity firm that invests in several industries, including healthcare. The firm’s investment criteria includes minimum revenue of $5 million and a transaction requiring equity capital of $10 million to $200 million.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Ian Gardner and his wife struggled to assemble a holistic care team during her pregnancy. At the end of their journey, they had a son — and a solution they called MilkWise, a one-stop portal where mothers can access experts and specialists so they can focus on their infants, not on searching through their various healthcare packages.

“We saw platforms and companies that provided specific components, say, for postpartum depression, pelvic floor rehab or lactation, but no single destination where a mom could go,” Ian explains to McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell.

Tune in as Ian describes how MilkWise uses lactation consulting as its market wedge, why payers — not providers — are the biggest operational challenge, and the three pillars MikeWise is built on: products, providers and payers.

Ampersand Capital Partners has announced the closing of a new fund.

The fund, Ampersand 2026 Limited Partnership, is Ampersand’s twelfth primary fund since 1992. It closed with $1.5 billion in limited partner commitments and was oversubscribed.

Ampersand, founded in 1988 and based in Wellesley, Massachusetts, 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. The firm typically pursues majority or minority positions in companies generating between $10 million and $200 million in revenue and positive EBITDA.

Align Capital Partners (ACP) has announced the acquisition of Heritage Imaging.

Heritage, founded in 1989 and based in Boise, Idaho, is a provider of mobile diagnostic imaging services to hospitals and healthcare facilities.

ACP, founded in 2016 and based in Shaker Heights, Ohio, is a growth-oriented private equity firm focused on making control investments in lower middle market companies across North America with up to $15 million of EBITDA. 

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Frazier Healthcare Partners has acquired Altruix from WindRose Health Investors, according to a news release.

Altruix, founded in 2005 and based in Hunt Valley, Maryland, is a behavioral health pharmacy platform serving patients with severe mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). 

Frazier, founded in 1991 and based in Seattle, is a provider of private equity capital to healthcare companies. The firm 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.

WindRose, founded in 2000 and based in New York, pursues equity investments in healthcare companies. The firm invests in a broad range of industry segments, including outsourced services to payors and health systems, technology-enabled services, healthcare providers and value-added distribution.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell invites colleague Amy Cassalia — whose practice is heavily weighted on life sciences transactions — to share insights about the post-closing period of these complex deals. The wide-ranging conversation covers the dynamics of “contingent consideration,” investor risk and buyers’ leverage.

Amy explains why she sees high-level use of contingent payments in life sciences deals and why the term “commercially reasonable” often becomes critical when a deal spirals into litigation. Stay tuned as she unpacks leading trends. Top among them? The increasing use of earn-outs.

In this episode of the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast, Amber Walsh, Partner at McGuireWoods, discusses the structure and scale of the Veterans Health Administration, the growing role of private providers and contractors within the VA system, and the policy and procurement dynamics shaping veteran healthcare today.