Prospect Partners Completes
Sale of Remuda Ranch Company
Specialty Behavioral Healthcare Provider Generated Significant
Returns to Prospect Partners and Management During Five-Year Investment
CHICAGO, ILL.—July
6, 2006: Prospect Partners, LLC, the private equity firm focused
on the lower middle market, announced today that it has sold its
interest in eating disorder treatment provider Remuda Ranch Company
of Wickenburg, Arizona, to Chicago private equity firm Thoma Cressey
Equity Partners and management.
Prospect Partners and
management acquired Remuda Ranch in 2001 from its publicly traded
parent company, Thomas Nelson Inc (NYSE:TNM). "Over the last
five years, founder and CEO Ward Keller and his management team
have continued to grow Remuda into the leading specialty behavioral treatment
center for women suffering from eating disorders and related issues,"
says Prospect Partners' Principal Richard C. Tuttle. "Remuda's
strong national reputation stems from the company's unique faith-based
treatment approach and high patient success rate."
For Prospect Partners,
Remuda represents the type of growth-ready niche leaders in which
the private equity firm seeks to invest. "Back in 2001, we
believed Remuda had great potential," Mr. Tuttle says. "But
at the time, the firm had passed through multiple corporate parents
that weren't focusing on the business segment and management had
no ownership stake. When we joined forces with Ward and his team,
they became owners alongside Prospect. Through their vision and
planning, and with support from Prospect Partners, they built a
stronger, more valuable business. The partnership resulted in a
terrific investment for all the shareholders."
Mr. Keller is a major
investor in the new company and will continue to lead Remuda along
with the rest of his senior management team, Mr. Tuttle says.
Prospect Partners continues
to seek acquisitions of specialty healthcare services companies
that meet its investment criteria.
Harris Williams and Co.
served as exclusive financial advisor to Prospect Partners and Remuda
Ranch in the transaction.
About Prospect Partners,
LLC
Prospect Partners, LLC
of Chicago, Illinois is a leading investor in unique lower-middle-market
companies, managing two private equity funds totaling $270 million.
Since its founding in 1998, Prospect Partners has focused on management-led
leveraged acquisitions of small niche leaders with revenues typically
between $10 and $30 million; the firm has invested in nearly 55
leading companies within many niche consumer, commercial, specialty
distribution and service markets throughout the United States.
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