Bain Capital hires banks to advise on strategic options for WayStar

Bain Capital has engaged financial advisers to weigh strategic options for healthcare revenue-cycle-management giant WayStar, according to people familiar with the matter.

JP Morgan Securities and Deutsche Bank have been hired for financial advice, the people said.

While WayStar, Louisville, Kentucky, has received inbound strategic interest, no formal process is under way, the people said. The timing and context of a process, if and when one takes place, is uncertain.

Bloomberg reported this week that the Boston PE firm has held early-stage discussions about a potential sale of the business, suggesting a transaction could value the business at more than $3 billion.

WayStar also has in the past contemplated an initial public offering, sources told Buyouts.

Bain in September 2017 acquired ZirMed, merging it with existing portfolio company Navicure. The transaction valued ZirMed at about $750 million, Buyouts reported. The combined healthcare technology company was renamed WayStar in February 2018.

Led by CEO Matthew Hawkins, WayStar has continued to grow via M&A under Bain’s backing. The company last fall said it agreed to acquire Connance, a predictive analytics company, and Ovation Revenue Cycle Services, a subsidiary of academic health system UPMC.

The software-as-a-service company serves more than 450,000 providers and 750 hospitals and health systems with technology that helps them improve healthcare billing, claims and patient payment processes.

Should a sale be pursued, WayStar could attract interest from companies such as Oracle and Visa, the Bloomberg report said.

Oracle was among finalists in the sales process for Sequoia Capital-backed ZirMed prior to its sale to Bain in 2017, sources have said. Pamplona, which owns RCM platform Nthrive, was also in the mix, Buyouts reported.

WayStar could also appeal to large technology players the likes of Global Payments, one source speculated.

In other brewing healthcare technology activity, Change Healthcare earlier this year filed for a $100 million IPO. The RCM provider is owned jointly by McKesson, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman.

Elsewhere, New Mountain Capital’s Convey Health, a healthcare payer services company, is in the midst of a Barclays Capital– and Goldman Sachs-conducted sales process. \

Instamed is in the late stages of its FT Partners-run auction, with final bids for the healthcare payments company due at the end of April.

Representatives of Bain and Oracle declined comment, while those with WayStar, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank did not immediately return requests for comment.

Action Item: Check out Bain’s latest Form ADV: https://bit.ly/2vmt36U