ARLINGTON, Texas & MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An investment
group including Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Pharos
Capital Group, LLC and Haas Wheat & Partners today announced
that they have acquired Nursefinders, Inc., one of the largest
healthcare staffing companies in the U.S. The transaction
expands the healthcare staffing holdings of Goldman Sachs by
joining Nursefinders with travel nurse staffing leader, National
Healthcare Staffing (NHS), an existing Goldman Sachs portfolio
company.
The combined organization has approximately $350 million in
revenues, 110 offices across the U.S. and a leading or
significant market position in each of the four healthcare
staffing sub-sectors: per diem nursing, travel nursing, allied
health staffing and physician staffing. In addition, the
combined company continues to be the largest Vendor Management
Services (VMS) provider in the industry. Terms of the
transaction were not disclosed.
Nursefinders, founded in 1974, is a diversified provider of
nurse, allied health and physician staffing to healthcare
facilities and homecare clients throughout the U.S. Its
subsidiaries will continue to operate under three separate
brands:
- Club Staffing, one of the
nation’s largest allied health
staffing companies
- Nursefinders, one of the
largest nurse staffing companies with over 100
offices nationwide and a provider of homecare services
- Linde Healthcare/Kendall
& Davis, a rapidly-growing supplier of locum tenens
(contract physicians) and full-time physician recruitment
services
“We could not be more excited about
the opportunity to partner with NHS and Goldman Sachs as we
continue to build Nursefinders into the premier provider of
healthcare staffing services,” said
Bob Livonius, CEO of Nursefinders and responsible for the
combined companies. “NHS’
larger travel nurse staffing business complements Nursefinders'
existing travel nurse staffing offering, while the capital and
healthcare expertise of Goldman Sachs, Pharos and Haas Wheat &
Partners will allow Nursefinders to accelerate its growth
through acquisitions and on an organic basis.”
“We welcome the opportunity to join
the Nursefinders team and bring our travel nurse staffing
expertise to the Nursefinders family of companies,”
said Peter Kilissanly, former CEO of NHS, now serving as
chairman of the combined entity.
“The acquisition of Nursefinders
significantly increases our efforts to build a leading provider
in the healthcare staffing industry,”
said Martin Chavez, Managing Director of Goldman Sachs Urban
Investment Group. “We believe Bob
Livonius and his executive team are one of the best in this
business, and joining with NHS allows us to offer our customers
a more attractive integrated healthcare service.”
"The opportunity to partner with a strong management team,
Goldman Sachs and Haas Wheat in addressing the national shortage
of nurses and other health professionals was very appealing to
Pharos," said Pharos Managing Partner Bob Crants.
“We are thrilled to be part of
this enterprise with Goldman Sachs, Pharos and senior
management,” commented Robert Haas,
Chairman of Haas Wheat & Partners. “Based
on our experience as a strategic investor in this dynamic
industry since 1999, we believe that the Company’s
strategy of offering a wide breadth of services to its clients,
often coupled with a direct presence in the hospital itself, is
a winning formula for success.”
Gryphon Investors, a San Francisco-based private equity firm,
acquired Nursefinders in August 2004 in partnership with Kaiser
Permanente and former Spherion CEO Ray Marcy. Under Gryphon’s
ownership, Nursefinders expanded into the physician staffing
sector with the acquisition of Linde Healthcare/Kendall & Davis
in July 2005 and into the allied health staffing sector with the
acquisition of Club Staffing in June 2006.
About Nursefinders, Inc.
Nursefinders, Inc., based in Arlington, TX, provides nursing,
allied healthcare and physician placement services through its
Nursefinders, Club Staffing and Linde Healthcare/Kendall & Davis
brands. Through a network of over 100 offices, it serves
hospitals, outpatient centers, assisted living and other health
care facilities nationwide. It also provides home health
services through 25 of its offices. The company places more than
14,000 health care professionals in long and short-term health
care assignments each year. To learn more about Nursefinders,
please visit
www.nursefinders.com.
About National Healthcare Staffing
National Healthcare Staffing (NHS) provides temporary
healthcare professionals (primarily nurses) on contract
assignments in acute-care hospitals. Through its nationwide
hospital contracts, the company provides assignments to
candidates throughout the country. NHS recruits candidates
throughout the United States and abroad, offering free furnished
housing, travel reimbursement and attractive compensation and
benefit packages. To learn more about National Healthcare
Staffing, please visit
www.nhsus.com.
About Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group
The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group is a private equity
initiative within The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), that
invests capital in ethnic minority-owned or targeted businesses
and urban real estate. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is a
leading global investment banking, securities and investment
management firm. The firm is headquartered in New York and
maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and
other major financial centers around the world. Goldman Sachs
also has offices in Miami, Florida and Dallas, Texas. To learn
more about The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, please
visit
www.gs.com/uig.
About Pharos Capital Group, LLC:
Based in Dallas and Nashville, Pharos Capital Group currently
has $500 million in capital under management through three
private equity funds. Pharos primarily invests in companies
seeking later stage equity funding for internal growth,
acquisitions, management buyouts or recapitalizations across
industry sectors, with particular focus on health care, business
services, and applied technology. To learn more about Pharos
Capital Group, LLC, please visit
www.pharosfunds.com.
About Haas Wheat & Partners Incorporated:
Haas Wheat & Partners is a Dallas-based private investment
firm specializing in strategic equity investments and leveraged
buyouts of middle market companies. Since 1984, Haas Wheat has
invested across a broad spectrum of industries, with a
particular concentration on healthcare and consumer products. To
learn more about Haas Wheat, please visit
www.haaswheat.com.
