Baird Capital has announced it has closed its first global fund with a total of approximately $310 million.

The fund invests in lower middle-market companies in healthcare and other sectors in the United States, United Kingdom and Asia.

Baird Capital, based in Chicago, is the direct investment arm of Robert W. Baird & Co. It makes private equity, venture capital and growth equity investments in healthcare and other targeted sectors.

Healthcare companies in Baird’s current portfolio include Alpha Source, a provider of solutions for medical equipment maintenance and service, medical device battery manufacturing and medical equipment parts distribution, and New Vitality, a direct marketer of supplements and personal care products.

GTCR has announced it will acquire GreatCall.

GTCR, founded in 1980 and based in Chicago, is a PE firm that invests in a number of sectors, including healthcare. Since its inception, GTCR has invested more than $12 billion in over 200 companies.

GreatCall, headquartered in San Diego, is a provider of connected health and personal emergency response services for active aging.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Terms were not disclosed.

Cressey & Co. has acquired a majority ownership position in StatLab Medical Products from Prairie Capital, according to a news release.

StatLab, based in McKinney, Texas, is a developer and manufacturer of diagnostic supplies for the anatomic pathology laboratory industry.

Cressey & Co., with offices in Chicago and Nashville, seeks control and minority equity investments exclusively in healthcare. The firm considers a wide range of investments in middle-market companies.

Prairie Capital, based in Chicago, is a PE firm focusing on the lower end of the middle market. It seeks to make control and select minority investments, typically in support of companies undergoing an ownership change.

No financial terms were disclosed.

Outcome Health has announced it has completed its first round of funding, raising $5 billion in financing.

Outcome Health, based in Chicago and founded in 2006, serves health information and health intelligence intended to help patients and physicians make educated healthcare decisions.

The company says the financing will be used to support the expansion of its health intelligence platform, with a goal of expanding “its impact from 20% to 70% of all U.S. physician practices by 2020.” Products include the Digital Anatomy Board, an exam room technology designed to facilitate communication through 3D anatomical diagrams that physicians can annotate during patient consultations.

Investors included Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, CapitalG (Alphabet’s growth equity investment fund), Leerink Transformation Partners, Pritzker Group Venture Capital and Balyasny Asset Management.

Shore Capital Partners has announced the completed recapitalization of Behavioral Innovations and formation of SCP Behavioral Innovations HoldCo.

This is the first platform investment out of Shore Capital Partners Fund II, a $190 million PE fund raised in April 2017.

Behavioral Innovations (BI) provides center-based and in-home applied behavior analysis therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy services to children ages birth through 18 with autism spectrum disorder and other related developmental disabilities. BI has 13 centers in Texas and in-home services in the Oklahoma City area.

Shore Capital Partners, founded in 2009 and based in Chicago, is a PE firm focused exclusively on microcap healthcare investments.

Mediware Information Systems has announced it will acquire Kinnser Software from Insight Venture Partners.

The transaction is backed by TPG Capital.

Mediware, based in Lenexa, Kan., is a supplier of software for human and social services, blood solutions, cellular therapy, homecare, medication management, rehabilitation, and respiratory therapy.

Kinnser, based in Austin, Texas, is a provider of software solutions for home health and hospice providers.

Insight Venture Partners, based in New York, is a PE and venture capital firm founded in 1995. It targets investments in growth-stage software, internet and data services companies.

TPG Capital, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas and San Francisco, targets investments in middle-market companies in healthcare and a number of other industries.

The transaction is expected to close at the end of the second quarter. Terms were not disclosed.

Harvest Partners has announced it has acquired the majority ownership interest in EyeCare Services Partners Holdings from Varsity Healthcare Partners.

Harvest Partners, based in New York, is a PE firm investing in middle-market companies. The firm targets investments in healthcare services and a few other industries.

EyeCare Services Partners Holdings, headquartered in Dallas, provides practice management services to more than 100 ophthalmologists and optometrists in its 46 clinics and seven ambulatory surgery centers across five states.

Varsity Healthcare Partners, with offices in Los Angeles and Stamford, Conn., is a healthcare-focused PE firm targeting investments in lower middle-market companies.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Optima Healthcare Solutions has announced it has acquired Hospicesoft.

Optima, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, is a provider of cloud-based software for post-acute care providers based in Palm City, Fla.

Hospicesoft, headquartered in Salem, Utah, is a supplier of cloud-based software for hospices.

Alpine Investors, based in San Francisco, is a private PE firm that targets investments in middle-market companies in the software, online and business services industries.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Highland Capital Management has announced that its affiliate, Highland Capital Management Korea Ltd., has closed a healthcare-focused PE fund, with approximately $147 million of total capital commitments.

The fund will primarily invest in middle-market healthcare companies in North America and Asia.

Highland Capital Management, based in Dallas, stated it has invested $1.4 billion in capital across its PE business.

Surgery Partners has announced it will acquire National Surgical Healthcare (NSH) from Irving Place Capital for approximately $760 million.

Surgery Partners, based in Nashville, Tenn., is an operator of surgical facilities across the United States. It has more than 150 locations in 29 states, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), surgical hospitals, a diagnostic laboratory, multi-specialty physician practices and urgent care facilities.

NSH, based in Chicago, owns, operates and partners with physicians in the short-stay surgical hospital and ASC industry. NSH owns and operates 21 surgical facilities, specializing in orthopedic surgery, spine and back, pain management and neurosurgery.

Irving Place Capital, based in New York, is a PE firm that targets middle-market companies for a wide range of investments in a number of industries.

Funding for Surgery Partners’ acquisition of NSH will be provided in part by Bain Capital Private Equity. Bain Capital, with North American offices in Boston and New York, invests in several industries, including healthcare.

In conjunction with the transaction, Bain Capital will acquire H.I.G. Capital’s existing equity stake in Surgery Partners. H.I.G. is a PE investment firm based in Boston.

The transaction is expected to close during 2017.

The ASC sector remains a hotbed of transaction activity, with news of the NSH acquisition by Surgery Partners coming just a few months after Optum announced it would acquire Surgical Care Affiliates (read our report on the acquisition and its possible implications here). Because activity in the ASC sector shows no signs of slowing down, PE interest in ASCs and surgery center companies is likely to remain high. New market investors would be wise to watch out for potential legal trapdoors.