Oct 11 2012
The Beekman Group ("Beekman") announced the closing of the sale of
Northwestern Management Services, LLC ("NMS") to Linden Capital
Partners, a leading healthcare-focused middle market investment firm.
Founded in 2002 by CEO David A. Willens, NMS provides management and
administrative services and facilities for the Gentle Dental Group and
has grown into the largest dental practice management company
exclusively operating in Florida. Gentle Dental provides comprehensive
general, cosmetic and specialty dental services through its network of
21 locations. The Beekman Group partnered with Mr. Willens and acquired
a majority interest in NMS in December 2007.
During Beekman's investment period, the NMS platform grew from 10 to 21
fully-operational locations, more than doubling revenues and tripling
profitability, while reinvesting substantially in the Company's
infrastructure and adding key senior executives to the management team.
These efforts, together with strong execution by management, resulted in
a successful investment for both Beekman and NMS management, generating
an approximate 6x return on invested capital in slightly less than five
years.
David Willens said, "The Beekman Group has been a tremendous partner
over the last five years. Their experience working alongside
middle-market entrepreneurs proved invaluable to our team as we built an
enduring platform and executed on a rapid growth plan through both new
location openings and acquisitions. I look forward to future
opportunities to work with them to build another great company."
John G. Troiano, Managing Partner of The Beekman Group commented, "We
are pleased to have partnered with David and the NMS management team in
building a leading dental practice management platform in an attractive
region. NMS represents another example of Beekman sourcing a promising
small business and partnering with owner-managers to significantly grow
their operations, despite the tough Florida economy. We wish Linden much
success with its investment."