Houlihan Lokey Advises Sentinel Capital Partners

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that MB2 Dental Solutions (MB2) has partnered with and received an equity investment from Sentinel Capital Partners (Sentinel). The transaction closed on September 29, 2017.

Headquartered in Carrollton, Texas, and serving patients in Alaska, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas, MB2 is a leading dental service organization (DSO) that employs a “joint venture” business model through which affiliated dentists enjoy the clinical benefits of a private practice and the infrastructure, compliance, marketing, and purchasing advantages of the traditional DSO model. MB2 draws on the energy of highly engaged dentist partners with deep commitment and aligned interests. MB2 has grown rapidly through de novo openings, add-on acquisitions, and strong existing-office growth. Beginning with two practices in 2007, today MB2 has 85 affiliated practices. MB2 offers general dentistry services, orthodontics, cosmetic dentistry, and oral surgery.

Sentinel specializes in buying and building businesses at the lower end of the middle market in the United States and Canada in partnership with management. Sentinel targets aerospace and defense, business services, consumer, distribution, food and restaurants, franchising, healthcare, and industrial businesses. Sentinel invests in management buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures, and going-private transactions of established businesses with EBITDA of up to $65 million. Sentinel also invests in special situations, including balance sheet restructurings and operational turnarounds.

Sentinel has a well-established record of investing in the dental sector, in which MB2 represents its sixth platform investment. Most recently, in December 2016, Sentinel invested significant equity in Altima Dental, one of the largest DSOs in Canada with a clinic network across six provinces. 

Houlihan Lokey is among the most active advisors in this segment of the market, having advised on 12 DSO transactions since June 2014 with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $4 billion. This most recent transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey's leadership in the healthcare sector and highlights the firm's continued momentum and leadership in the multi-site healthcare services space.