Charterhouse Group, a New York-based private equity firm, together with Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based investment firm, and MTS Health Investors, a healthcare private equity firm, are selling their portfolio company Chamberlin Edmonds to a subsidiary of Emdeon for USD260m in cash.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Chamberlin Edmonds is a provider of government programme eligibility and enrolment services to over 200 acute care facilities in 30 states.
Chamberlin Edmonds’ technology-enabled services assist hospitals in lowering the incidence of uncompensated care, reducing bad-debt expense and increasing overall cash flow.
Emdeon is a provider of healthcare revenue and payment cycle management solutions. The transaction will be financed through the use of unrestricted cash and borrowings under an amendment to Emdeon’s existing credit facility that will be established simultaneously with the closing of the transaction. In connection with the credit facility amendment, Emdeon has entered into an incremental USD100m financing commitment with Citigroup Global Markets.
Under the investors’ ownership, Chamberlin Edmonds experienced organic growth through the expansion of its hospital customer base and the launching of complementary service offerings. In addition, it implemented process and technology initiatives, which served to automate the process of populating an uninsured patient’s information.
C. Taylor Cole, Jr., managing director at Charterhouse, William F. Miller, III, operating partner at Highlander Partners, Curtis S. Lane, senior managing director at MTS Health Investors and Christopher J. Garcia, member of the investor group and chairman of Chamberlin Edmonds, said in a joint statement: "Chamberlin Edmonds is another example of our consistent strategy of partnering with seasoned executives and providing the financial and strategic resources necessary to help companies realize accelerated, profitable growth. We would like to thank Ulrich and his team for all the hard work and dedication they exhibited in leading Chamberlin Edmonds over the past several years. We are confident that the management team will have continuing success with Emdeon."
"Chamberlin Edmonds has created a scalable technology-enabled service delivery platform that blends national reach and perspective with local delivery and knowledge," says T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, president and chief executive officer for Chamberlin Edmonds. "By joining Emdeon, we are significantly better positioned to offer the full suite of tools, technologies, services and expertise required to build an optimised eligibility process, from screening through enrolment and cash recovery, to hospitals nationwide."
