PE-backed Bolder Healthcare explores sale

Bolder Healthcare Solutions, the healthcare-revenue-cycle-management firm backed by an Edgewater Funds affiliate, is up for sale, according to three sources.

William Blair has been hired to advise on a process for the Bolder Capital-backed company, two of the sources said.

BHS, Louisville, Kentucky, was created in August 2012, when Bolder Capital partnered with the healthcare-IT entrepreneur Michael Shea. BHS’s vision was to build a specialist in healthcare-revenue-cycle management through acquisitions.

Denver-based Bolder Capital was founded in 2004 by Todd Hamilton through a co-investment relationship with Edgewater Funds of Chicago and London-listed JZ Capital Partners.

The company includes diversified offerings to help hospitals and physicians maximize cash flow and reimbursement.

While BHS is more of a services and outsourcing business rather than a pure technology provider, it ought to attract buyers given the private equity community’s comfort with the revenue-cycle-management space, a fourth source familiar with the company said.

BHS generates EBITDA around $40 million to $50 million, sources said.

Before joining BHS, Shea founded and led healthcare-revenue-cycle-management company MedAssist for several years, partnering with RoundTable Healthcare Partners in 2003. MedAssist was ultimately sold for $330 million to FirstSource Solutions in 2007, though Shea stayed on as CEO through 2010.

Shea brought FirstSource’s former CFO, Frank Stellato, with him to serve as CFO of BHS.

BHS, in line with the company’s stated strategy, has grown largely through M&A. Acquisitions include Business Dynamics, Healthcare Receivable Professionals, Prospective Payment Specialists, ROI Cos, Avectus Healthcare Solutions as well as Monti Eligibility and Denial Solutions and Monti Group, or MEDS.

A recent high-profile transaction in revenue-cycle management was the fusion of Bain Capital’s Navicure with Sequoia Capital’s ZirMed. The transaction valued ZirMed at about $750 million.

Other sizable assets include Pamplona Capital Management’s nThrive; TriZetto, a unit of Cognizant Technology Solutions; and Change Healthcare, which was created last year when McKesson’s healthcare-IT unit combined with Blackstone-backed Change.

Representatives of Bolder Capital and Bolder Healthcare didn’t return requests for comment. William Blair declined comment.

Action Item: Get in touch with Bolder Capital’s Todd Hamilton at todd@boldercapital.com

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