PE Today: Audax Announces Another Exit, Frontenax Closes 12th Fund

Read the top headlines from Thursday, March 17, 2022 below:

Audax Exits Physical Therapy Business Lifemark

Audax Private Equity announced Thursday (March 17) that it reached an agreement to sell Canada-based Lifemark Health Group for an undisclosed sum. Loblaw Companies will acquire the medical assessments, rehabilitation and physiotherapy business, a press release said. Audax first acquired Lifemark in 2015 and has since expanded the business through more than 50 acquisitions, geographic growth, and an elevated service offering.

“The outpatient physical therapy industry remains highly fragmented and vast,” noted Audax managing director Keith Palumbo in a statement. The sale is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022 pending regulatory approval.

The exit follows just days after Audax announced the sale of Stonewall Kitchen to TA Associates.

Related content: Envisioning the Future of Health Care

LPs Commit $520 Million for Frontenac XII

Private equity firm Frontenac has announced the closure of its twelfth fund with limited partners committing $520 million. Frontenac XII was oversubscribed, the firm said in its press release, and brought on new investors comprised of foundations, family offices, pension funds and others. The firm focuses on the lower middle-market across the consumer, industrial and services industries.

KKR-Backed Biosynth Carbosynth Acquires Ampersand’s vivitide

Global investment firm KKR has closed the previously-announced investment in life sciences company Biosynth Carbosynth, announced an add-on acquisition, vivitide. Currently owned by private equity firm Ampersand Capital Partners, vivitide, also a life sciences company, will join Biosynth Carbosynth, while Ampersand will remain a minority shareholder of the combined entity. KKR and Ampersand said in a press release they will collaborate to grow the company’s geographic footprint, expand capabilities, and broaden its product offering.