Business News

Schumacher, new partner Onex complete purchase of Fla. competitor

by Leslie Turk

Lafayette-based company now operating in 29 states and 358 hospitals.

Less than a month after Toronto-based private equity firm Onex Corporation announced that it had completed its undisclosed investment in Schumacher Group — “in partnership with its founder, Dr. William C. “Kip” Schumacher, and certain members of its management,” according to the press release — the Lafayette-headquartered provider of hospital and emergency medicine management services confirmed Aug. 26 that it had finalized its merger with competitor Hospital Physician Partners of Hollywood, Fla.

The plan to acquire HPP was first announced Aug. 4, the same day Onex publicly acknowledged its investment in Schumacher Group. The investments by Onex Corporation (OCX) were made by Onex Partners IV, Onex’s $5.7 billion flagship fund. The terms of both transactions were not disclosed.

About the half the size of Schumacher Group, HPP is the fourth largest U.S. provider of emergency and hospital medicine clinical staffing services. The completed merger, which keeps Schumacher as the No. 3 provider in the country behind No. 2 TeamHealth and No. 1 EmCare, results in a combined presence in 29 states (there is overlap in the two companies’ service areas) and 358 hospitals, caring for nearly 6 million patients a year.

HPP co-founder Jeffery Schillinger, who had been serving as the company’s CEO, has been named president of Schumacher Group; Rich D’Amaro will continue in his role as CEO of Schumacher Group, and Kip Schumacher retains his role as chairman of the board.

For the second year in a row, Schumacher Group ranked No. 1 on ABiz’s list of the top private companies in the region. The company reported $675 million in 2014 revenues, a 10 percent increase over the prior year.

Onex is one of the oldest private equity firms with offices in Toronto, New York and London. Through its Onex Partners and ONCAP private equity funds, it acquires and builds high-quality businesses in partnership with management teams.

At Onex Credit, Onex manages and invests in leveraged loans, collateralized loan obligations and other credit securities. The company has approximately $21 billion of assets under management, including $5.9 billion of Onex capital, in private equity and credit securities. Onex invests its capital through its two investing platforms and is the largest limited partner in each of its private equity funds.

Onex’s businesses have assets of $34 billion, generate annual revenues of $24 billion and employ approximately 196,000 people worldwide. Onex shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol OCX. For more information click here.