Bain, J.H. Whitney-backed Aveanna files for IPO, Altaris-backed Senior Helpers commands around $180m in sale

Bain and J.H. Whitney-backed Aveanna files to go public.

Morning and hope you enjoyed the holiday weekend!

Stayin’ in: In healthcare, it seems anything touching the home remains in high demand. This one I’ve heard speculation about for months, so while not surprising, it provides yet another example of this accelerating trend: Aveanna, a diversified home care platform owned by Bain Capital and J.H. Whitney, filed to raise $100 million an initial public offering on Friday. Read the S-1 filing here.

The company appears public-ready from a management standpoint, with Executive Chairman Rodney Windley and CEO Tony Strange having previously led Gentiva Health Services – the largest U.S. home health company at the time before being acquired by Kindred Healthcare for $1.8 billion in 2015.

For Bain, the deal comes more than four years after buying J.H. Whitney’s PSA Healthcare and combining it with Epic Health Services, an even larger company it bought just weeks earlier in an approximately $950 million deal, sources said at the time. In connection with the deal, the PSA management team and J.H. Whitney rolled over their current ownership interests into the newly formed affiliate.

According to the S-1, Aveanna over the past five years has scaled by 5x, expanding from 17 states and $324.6 million of revenue in 2016 to 30 states and $1.5 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2020.

Under one roof: Aveanna – which believes it has built the largest pediatric home health business in the US – recently expanded into adult home health and hospice for Medicare populations. Meanwhile, not-for-profit health system Advocate Aurora Health last week also got into the business of senior home care, buying Senior Helpers from Altaris Capital Partners in a deal valued around $180 million, or approximately 14x 2020 EBITDA, PE Hub has learned.

The non-profit is buying the non-medical home-care franchisor through Advocate Aurora Enterprises, a recently launched subsidiary formed to invest beyond traditional clinical care settings.

Of particular note, Advocate Aurora Enterprises represents the first strategic buyer of a home care franchisor in over a decade. The most recent instance was in 2009, when Webster Equity Partners’ Comfort Keepers locked down a buyer in Sodexo, a French provider of food and facilities management services.

Read my full report on PE Hub for more on Senior Helpers and other brewing home care activity.

That’s it for me! Enjoy the week ahead, and as always, write to me at springle@buyoutsinsider.com with any tips, feedback or just to say hello!

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