Houlihan Lokey Advises National Dentex Labs

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that National Dentex Labs (NDX), a portfolio company of Cerberus Capital Management (Cerberus), has acquired Dental Services Group (DSG). The transaction closed on April 1, 2021.

NDX is the largest dental lab network with more than 30 service-oriented local labs, aesthetic labs with deep experience and skills, simple domestic and offshore mail-order options, and the most advanced technology in digital dentistry and surgical planning.

Based in St. Petersburg, Florida, DSG’s full-service laboratory network offers customers a variety of options in fixed, removable, implant, orthodontics, and sleep dentistry products and services. The combined company will share best practices and capabilities to deliver a leading portfolio of solutions to independent dentists and dental support organizations (DSOs). Together, the organization, supported by nearly 4,000 employees, will provide its more than 50,000 customers across North America with cost-effective options that deliver the best treatment outcomes for patients.

Cerberus is a private equity firm that provides operational expertise and works closely with management throughout the lifecycle of an investment to improve the business performance and drive long-term value creation. For more than two decades, the team has invested more than $15 billion in equity—acquiring controlling or substantial minority interests in 69 portfolio companies and completing more than 60 add-on acquisitions. In total, Cerberus’ current portfolio companies employ nearly 400,000 people around the world and generate aggregate revenues in excess of $70 billion per year.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive financial advisor to NDX and assisted in initiating, structuring, and negotiating the transaction on its behalf.

This transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey’s leadership position in the dental space, having advised on more than 25 closed transactions in the sector since 2016. 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 M&A advisor for U.S. healthcare transactions under $1 billion by Refinitiv (formerly Thomson Reuters).