Houlihan Lokey Advises Children’s Dental Management

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Children’s Dental Management (CDM), a portfolio company of DFW Capital Partners (DFW) has been acquired by Spark Dental Management (Spark), a portfolio company of Rock Mountain Capital. The transaction closed on December 27, 2021.

Headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, CDM is the largest pediatric specialist-led dental support organization (DSO) nationally, focused on the pediatric and orthodontic markets. The company’s mission includes solving access to care and patient safety issues, which it is uniquely positioned to achieve through its ownership of five AAAHC-accredited dental surgery centers.

DFW is a private equity investment firm focused on lower-middle-market companies. The firm concentrates on service companies, with an emphasis on healthcare and outsourced business and industrial support services. DFW is backed by both institutional and high-net-worth individual investors and has established a more than 20-year track record of success in building leading companies. DFW is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Spark provides business and operational support services to 74 affiliated pediatric dental and orthodontics locations across seven states. The company was founded as Spark Orthodontics in 2010 by Jason M. Hartman, D.M.D., M.S., with a focus on expanding access to quality orthodontic and dental care for children.

Rock Mountain Capital is a private equity firm founded by industry veteran David Stonehill. Rock Mountain focuses on working with entrepreneurs and management teams in the consumer goods and services, technology, media, and telecom (TMT), and consumer-facing healthcare services sectors to accelerate organizational development, execute on organic growth opportunities, and pursue strategic M&A and roll-up/consolidation strategies.

Houlihan Lokey is a leading advisor in the dental sector, having advised on 50 transactions, including 10 transactions in 2021. Houlihan Lokey’s Healthcare Group is among the largest dedicated healthcare investment banking groups in the country. In 2020, the group closed 22 transactions and was ranked the No. 1 advisor for U.S. healthcare M&A transactions under $1 billion by Refinitiv.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor.