Livingbridge sells Portman stake in SBO to Core Equity

Portman has undertaken an acquisitive growth strategy since Livingbridge's initial investment in the company four years ago, increasing its number of practices from 27 to 75. Livingbridge was invested in Portman via its fifth fund, Unquote understands. Livingbridge V is a 2012-vintage vehicle that made equity investments of £20-30m in companies with enterprise values of £20-75m.

The company generated EBITDA of £6.5m in the year ending in September 2017, according to publicly available documents, up 56% on the previous year. It has also made 14 bolt-on acquisitions in the nine months since September 2017.

Portman CEO Sam Waley-Cohen will remain in his role following the deal, although Sky News reports that he has also sold a significant portion of his shares via the deal.

The transaction is the first UK investment made by Core, which was founded in 2015 by four ex-Bain Capital professionals. The GP adopts a patient-capital approach, with investment periods lasting anywhere up to 15 years, and is currently investing via its €1bn Core Equity I fund. The vehicle closed in September 2017 and typically writes equity cheques of €200-500m.

A spokesperson for Livingbridge declined to comment on the deal valuation or the returns generated from the investment.

Previous funding
Livingbridge acquired a minority stake in Portman in 2014.

Company
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Cheltenham, Portman is a private dentistry chain. The group generated a turnover of £54.5m in the year ending in September 2017, according to the documents.

People
Portman Dental Care – Sam Waley-Cohen (CEO).
Livingbridge – Adam Holloway (founding partner).
Core Equity Holdings – Bart Wouters (principal).

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