Charlesbank Capital Partners reportedly won an auction for Austin-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy provider Action Behavior Centers LLC.
AxiosPro reports that the Boston-based middle-market private equity firm reached a deal with Action Behavior Centers’ previous owner, NexPhase Capital LP, three weeks ago. Action Behavior Centers has a valuation of $840 million and $60 million in projected annual adjusted earnings.
Neither Charlesbank Capital Partners nor NexPhase Capital LP have responded to a request for comment.
NexPhase Capital invested in Action Behavior Centers in 2018. At the time, the firm highlighted the huge imbalance between ABA providers and the number of children diagnosed with autism in its ad. NexPhase was intended to help expand “rapidly” in Texas and other states.
At the time, Action Behavior Centers had five locations, all in Texas. Currently, it lists open and soon-to-open locations in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, and Arizona on its website.
This appears to be Charlesbank’s only current foray into behavioral health, based on the portfolio it includes in its website.
In July, Axios reported that NexPhase Capital was thinking of a sale Action Behavior Centers.
The sale comes after strong growth in behavioral health deals in 2020 and 2021. M&A consultancy Mertz Taggart reports that private equity firms in the first half of the year have achieved 74 transactions in behavioral health. Mertz Taggart tracked 69 transactions during the first half of 2021. The fourth quarter saw 54 transactions, while all of 2021 saw 158.
In the combined fields of autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities, Mertz Taggart tracked 7 transactions in the second quarter and 13 in the first half of the year.
In May, Pathways Health and Community Support, LLC announced that it acquired Psychological Assessment & Intervention Service Inc. (PAIS), based in West Virginia, for an undisclosed sum.
The Boston-based Stepping Stones Group announced that acquired HM Therapy in June and Center for Behavioral, Educational and Social Therapies in July.
