Houlihan Lokey Advises General Healthcare Resources

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that General Healthcare Resources (GHR) has been acquired by MidOcean Partners (MidOcean) from Platform Partners (Platform) and other investors, including Chairman Joe Kaplan. The transaction closed on December 9, 2021.

Headquartered in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, GHR is a comprehensive healthcare staffing platform providing highly skilled clinicians across nursing, allied, and healthcare IT. In addition to the company’s contingent staffing services, GHR offers workforce solutions to clients through its high-growth managed service program. Since the company’s founding in 1993, GHR has developed an industry-leading database comprising over 2 million healthcare professionals that are strategically placed to clients across various healthcare settings, including acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, outpatient facilities, and educational settings, among others. Today, GHR operates out of eight locations across the Mid-Atlantic, Texas, and Florida, allowing the company to support nationwide coverage of clients and candidates. As one of few healthcare staffing providers with an end-to-end offering, GHR is poised for significant growth across its platform in the future.

John Quirk, CEO of GHR, said, “We are excited to partner with MidOcean to drive outsized growth for the GHR platform. MidOcean has an impressive track record in executing transformational growth and brings deep expertise in the healthcare and staffing markets that will enhance our ability to better serve our customers and our employees while supporting our market expansion goals.”

Mr. Kaplan and Platform partnered, alongside a strategic group of co-investors with previous experience in the healthcare staffing industry, to invest in GHR. Mr. Kaplan served on GHR’s leadership team as Board Chairman.

Mr. Kaplan commented, “It was a pleasure working with Platform. Besides access to capital, Platform provided us with strategic insight to significantly invest in our business to drive organic and acquisition growth and to enhance our value for all our stakeholders. I am very pleased with what we have accomplished together and believe MidOcean will serve as a great partner for GHR’s next phase of growth.”

Founded in 2006 and based in Houston, Platform is a private investment firm specializing in growth capital, recapitalizations, buyouts, corporate divestitures, and significant minority investments in lower-middle-market companies. Platform primarily invests in businesses in the healthcare services, financial services, business services, IT, telecommunications services, and utilities sectors and has approximately $700 million in total assets under management.

MidOcean, headquartered in New York, is a premier alternative asset manager that specializes in middle-market private equity and alternative credit investments. MidOcean is a longtime investor in human capital businesses, with GHR representing MidOcean’s fourth investment in the space. Prior investments include System One, a leading provider of staffing and outsourced services in the engineering, scientific, and technology areas that MidOcean exited in October 2016; Global Knowledge, a world-class provider of IT training to corporate clients that MidOcean exited in January 2015, and The Planet Group, one of the world’s leading diversified professional services organizations that MidOcean exited in May 2021. Within the human capital space, MidOcean focuses on end markets with clear secular growth trends such as the pharmaceutical, IT, engineering, and healthcare industries.

Elias Dokas, Managing Director at MidOcean, commented, “We are very excited to partner with John and the GHR team, who are proven leaders in the healthcare-focused human capital space…GHR has built an impressive business that has experienced strong growth due to delivering superior service to its customers. We believe there are numerous opportunities through both organic initiatives and accretive strategic acquisitions to continue this growth, including deepening the company’s relationships with existing clients, expanding its service offering, and entering into new markets.”

Marc Aronstein, Operating Partner at MidOcean, is also enthusiastic and added, “We believe GHR is optimally positioned to address the need for highly valuable human capital to serve the needs of healthcare providers.”

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to GHR, Mr. Kaplan, and Platform.

Houlihan Lokey’s Human Capital Management team is among the most active M&A advisors in the market, having closed 13 transactions in the past 12 months and 41 transactions in the past five years. This most recent transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey’s leadership in the business services universe and highlights continued momentum and leadership in the HCM sector, which includes staffing, recruitment, VMS, MSP, RPO, talent management, and PEO.