Carlyle buys Nautic’s Odyssey Behavioral in $200 mln deal

Carlyle Group acquired Odyssey Behavioral Health from Nautic Partners in a deal valued at about $200 million, according to people familiar with the matter.

The deal closed in mid-November and was done through Carlyle’s U.S. middle-market buyout group, one of the people said. The transaction has not been formally announced by the parties.

Nautic, Providence, Rhode Island, earlier this year tapped Moelis to advise on a sales process for the Brentwood, Tennessee, behavioral-health company, Buyouts reported.

Odyssey operates five facilities offering adult residential and outpatient treatment care in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama and Indiana. The clinics treat individuals with complex psychiatric conditions, as well as offer customized care for substance abuse and addiction.

Nautic’s investment in Odyssey dates back about three years. The partnership between the firm and an industry veteran, CEO Scott Kardenetz, was announced in July 2015, when Odyssey closed its first two platform deals, Pasadena Villa and Lifeskills.

Nautic and Odyssey management said then that they planned to invest up to $50 million of equity capital to support growth.

For Carlyle, the transaction is its second behavioral health deal over the past couple of years.

The firm in 2017 bought Newport Academy, which treats teens suffering from conditions ranging from trauma to drug and alcohol abuse, sources told Buyouts. The transaction was never announced.

In other recent behavioral health activity, Chicago’s Frontenac recently concluded its Piper Jaffray-run auction for Behavioral Health Group. The buyer was fellow Chicago PE shop Vistria Group, Buyouts learned.

Representatives of Carlyle and Moelis declined comment, while those with Nautic and Odyssey didn’t return requests for comment.

Action Item: Reach out to Jim Beakey, Nautic’s head of business development, at jbeakey@nautic.com