Kinderhook Industries has completed its acquisition of Enhabit, according to a news release.

The deal was valued at approximately $1.1 billion.

Enhabit, founded in 2022 when it was spun off from Encompass Health Corp. and based in Dallas, is a national home health and hospice provider.

Kinderhook, founded in 2003 and based in New York, is a middle market private equity firm. The firm specializes in management buyouts of entrepreneurial-owned businesses operating in healthcare services and a few other sectors.

With the transaction completed, Enhabit’s common stock has ceased trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the company has become a privately held entity.

Water Street Healthcare Partners has announced the closing of its sixth private equity fund.

The fund, Water Street Healthcare Partners VI, closed with $1.9 billion in total capital commitments. The fund was oversubscribed and closed at its hard cap.

Water Street, founded in 2005 and based in Chicago, is a private equity firm focused exclusively on healthcare. The firm indicated that with the newly raised capital, it is seeking opportunities to invest in mid-market businesses specializing in medical products and diagnostics, pharmaceutical and life sciences, and healthcare services.

The secondary market has grown to roughly $220 billion as GPs and LPs scramble for liquidity in a private markets cycle stuck in a “worse distribution profile” for three and a half years. Chris Lawrence, managing partner at Labyrinth Capital Partners, joins McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell to demystify GP-led secondaries. 

Chris breaks down continuation vehicles, strip sales and fund restructurings. He explains why secondary pricing ranges from par to as low as 72 cents on the dollar and makes the case that GP-leds are now a mature, institutionally accepted portfolio management tool.

Brightstar Capital Partners has announced an investment in Simon Eye Holdings.

Simon Eye, founded in 1987 and based in Wilmington, Delaware, is an integrated vision care platform providing optometry, optical and ophthalmology services across the Mid-Atlantic region.

Brightstar, founded in 2015 and with headquarters in New York and West Palm Beach, Florida, is a middle market private equity firm. It is focused on investing in business services, industrials, consumer, and government services and technology companies.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

THL Partners has announced the closing of its newest fund.

The fund — THL Equity Fund X — closed with $6.35 billion in investable capital.

THL, founded in 1974 and based in Boston, is a private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies in a few sectors, including healthcare. The firm typically targets companies with enterprise values between $250 million and $2.5 billion.

Mako Capital Group has announced its launch.

Mako, based in Miami, is a private equity firm specializing in acquiring lower-middle market U.S. companies in healthcare, financial and other services. Mako targets businesses with $5 million to $15 million of EBITDA and invests $25 million to $50 million of equity per transaction. The firm was founded by Angel Morales, Pete Amaro and Oscar Munoz.

Mako’s initial portfolio investments included Mangrove Health, a Miami-based healthcare services platform focused on preventive, community-based care.

Terms of the investment were not disclosed.

Oncology commands roughly 40% of the national drug spend. Retina is close behind. “If you follow the drug spend, you’ll find that the distributors are really building an ecosystem around it,” says Jeanne Proia, managing director at Cross Keys Capital and president of its healthcare services group. 

In this conversation with McGuireWoods partner and host Geoff Cockrell, Jeanne unpacks the market. Unlike traditional PE deals, she says, these transactions leave physicians holding their own equity inside a long-term MSO relationship, trading the second bite at the apple for cash upfront and taking the risk off.

As she explains: “They’re able to bring a lot more synergies just because they’re getting to be bigger and bigger, and they can use that money to support all the synergies, whether it’s clinical trials, recruiting or RCM.”