Houlihan Lokey Advises Wellspring Capital Management

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Wellspring Capital Management (Wellspring) has acquired Caring Brands International (“Caring Brands” or “CBI”), a portfolio company of Levine Leichtman Capital Partners (LLCP). The transaction closed on October 25, 2021.

Wellspring Capital Management is a leading private equity firm headquartered in New York. Since its founding in 1995, Wellspring has raised over $4.5 billion of initial capital commitments through six private equity funds. In total, Wellspring’s current portfolio companies employ nearly 60,000 people around the world and, in 2020, generated aggregate revenues in excess of approximately $4.5 billion. Over the past 25 years, Wellspring has invested in over 45 platform investments across various segments of the U.S. and global economies. Wellspring’s objective is to bring partnership, experience, and value creation to each investment. By teaming up with strong management, Wellspring seeks to unlock underlying value and pursue new growth opportunities through strategic initiatives, operating improvements, and add-on acquisitions. The firm functions as a strategic partner, providing management teams with top-line support, M&A experience, financial expertise, and access to resources.

Headquartered in Sunrise, Florida, Caring Brands is the largest franchiser of home healthcare services globally with more than 585 locations around the world, producing approximately $1.3 billion of annual systemwide sales. CBI is also the only franchiser offering the full continuum of care at home, including skilled nursing, assistance with daily living activities, and end-of-life hospice care. CBI operates under three brands: Interim HealthCare (United States and Saudi Arabia), Bluebird Care (United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland), and Just Better Care (Australia).

Levine Leichtman Capital Partners is a middle-market private equity firm currently managing $9.0 billion of assets, with a 38-year track record of investing across various targeted sectors, including franchising, business services, education, and engineered products. LLCP utilizes a differentiated structured private equity investment strategy, combining debt and equity capital investments in portfolio companies. This structure provides a less dilutive solution for management teams and entrepreneurs, while delivering growth and income with a significantly lower risk profile. Since inception, LLCP has managed approximately $12.7 billion of institutional capital across 15 investment funds and has invested in over 90 portfolio companies.

Houlihan Lokey served as the exclusive buyside financial advisor to Wellspring. This transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey’s leadership position in the hospice and home care sector, having advised on eight transactions in the past three years. 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. Houlihan Lokey’s Healthcare Group has closed more than 300 M&A healthcare transactions since its inception.