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At least 25 Fertility Clinics Sold in 2022. Who They Were and Who Bought Them

This News Digest Brought to You by
CYCLE CLARITY

 
 
 

BY MICHAEL BARBELLA

Merger and acquisition activity continued to consolidate fertility clinics in 2022 as companies providing reproductive assistance brokered deals that expanded their buyers’ geographic footprints and market share. Transaction totals have increased in recent years from more buyers. 

“For fertility practice transactions, 2022 was a tale of two kinds”, explains Richard Groberg, a financial executive who advises business sellers and buyers in the fertility field.  “Early 2022 saw significant interest from buyers at high multiples [of EBITDA]”.  

Groberg went on to say that many practices’ IVF and patient volumes declined in later 2022 after peaking from what he sees as a post-Covid boom in 2021. “As a result, acquirers have become much more prudent/risk averse in terms of valuations, earn outs, claw back provisions, etc.”

Damian Dalla-Longa, a partner at New York City-based Albaron Partners, a lower middle-market investment firm focused on the healthcare sector, says he is very optimistic about his group’s investment position in the fertility industry. “In the U.S. and globally, patient demand for fertility services outstrips the supply of physicians and IVF facilities. This will continue to drive strong growth in the industry for years to come.” 

Such demand, along with a better awareness of IVF (in-vitro fertilization) and related services, rising infertility rates, and the advancing age of first-time parents, is expected to boost the global market’s value 37.5 percent (reaching $36.25 billion) by 2028, according to Zion Market Research data.

That growth has spawned a bounty of M&A activity over the last seven years. At least 25 deals transpired in 2022, as PE firms, digital health providers, and reproductive assistance/fertility companies jockeyed for market share. Some of the transactions included:

North America
 

Kindbody’s purchase of Vios Fertility Institute (February), Phosphorus Labs (June), and Alternative Reproductive Resources (August). The Vios deal doubled Kindbody’s U.S. footprint at the time to 26 clinics and propelled the company to unicorn status at a $1.15 billion valuation. The Phosphorus Labs and Alternative Reproductive Resources additions, meanwhile, gave Kindbody in-house genetic testing and surrogacy capabilities, respectively.
 

The Fertility Partners’ Canadian and U.S. expansion via partnerships with Ottawa Fertility Centre (Ontario), Grace Fertility Centre (Vancouver), Illume Fertility (Norwalk, Conn.), and Kitchener Area Reproductive Medicine Associates (Ontario). The latter affiliation expanded The Fertility Partners’ presence to 13 IVF centers across 36 locations in Canada and the United States, including seven in Ontario.  

Pinnacle Fertility’s eight-clinic spending spree. Joining the Pinnacle corporate family were ORM Fertility (four practice loations in Oregon and Washington), Advanced Fertility Care (two practice locations in the metro Phoenix area), California Fertility Partners (Los Angeles), Institute for Human Reproduction (Chicago), Dominion Fertility (greater Washington, D.C. area), Seattle Reproductive Medicine, Center for Reproductive Care (Chicago), and IVF1 (Naperville, Ill.). “Our two most recent additions, Seattle Reproductive Medicine (SRM) and IVF1, have expanded our geographical blueprint,” said Chief Operating Officer Beth Zoneraich. “With SRM, we vastly expanded our presence in the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast overall.”

CCRM’s pickup of The Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Science, a fertility treatment center with eight offices in New York and New Jersey, and RADfertility, a fertility center with offices in Newark, Wilmington, and Dover, Del. CCRM is backed by TA Associates and Unified Women’s Healthcare. 

Innovation Fertility, headed by CEO, Dwight Ryan, is the result of Albaron Partners affiliates’ acquisition of SpringCreek Fertility in Ohio. Charlotte, N.C.-based wealth advisory firm New Republic Partners made a strategic investment in Innovation Fertility, which is owned by Albaron Partners. “When we look at opportunities in general, we look to invest in underserved markets with positive growth potential,” said Dalla-Longa.

Ivy Fertility was backed by InTandem Capital Partners to purchase Utah Fertility Center, Nevada Center for Reproductive Medicine, and Nevada Fertility Center. 

Prelude Network, owned by Inception Fertility, made its second fertility clinic purchase in Canada with Alberta’s Regional Fertility Program. Inception Fertility’s financier, Lee Equity Partners, is in the process of seeking a buyer for the company, according to reports from Axios.

Ovation Fertility, which typically purchases the IVF lab rather than the clinic, announced its deals with the Fertility Center in Grand Rapids in May Northeastern Reproductive Medicine in August. WindRose sold its stake in Ovation to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in 2019.

Oma Fertility’s acquisition of Syosset, N.Y.-headquartered New York Reproductive Wellness. Oma Fertility is a division of San Jose, Calif.-based Oma Robotics, which boasts Jazz Venture Partners, Mithril, and Root Ventures as investors.

Boston IVF’s purchase of Delaware Institute for Reproductive Medicine, a fertility treatment provider in Delaware and the Mid-Atlantic region. Boston IVF is owned by the Eugin Group which is owned by publicly traded, Fresenius Helios.

Global Premiere Fertility’s pickup of Laguna Hills, Calif.-based Reproductive Health & Wellness Center. Led by CEO Kolin Ozonian, Global Premiere closed an $11 million Series C funding round last June from Triangle Capital Corporation. 

CARE Fertility, owned and financed by Nordic Capital, made their first entry into the United States when they purchased Reproductive Endocrinology Associates of Charlotte (REACH) at the end of 2022.

International

IVIRMA sold to KKR for €3 billion instead of listing an initial public offering.

Monash IVF Group Limited’s $9.4 million purchase of PIVET Medical Centre, a southwest Australian fertility services provider; and $3.9 million deal for ART Associates Queensland #2 Pty. Ltd. in Brisbane, Queensland.

FutureLife was backed by CVC Capital Partners and Hartenberg Holding in its acquisition of Institut Marques, one of Spain’s largest fertility clinics. Headquartered in Barcelona, Institut Marques operates three clinics in Spain and two in Italy. 

Not announced in 2022
 

Fertility Specialists Network, supported by LongueVue Capital, acquired Boca Fertility on January 12, 2023.

The last announced acquisition from Sverica Capital’s First Fertility was Fertility Institute of New Orleans in December, 2021

No announcements on 2022 acquisitions were found from US Fertility, whose principal investor is Amulet Capital, in 2022.

Groberg says that fertility networks, also known as Management Service Organizations (MSO) may begin to merge or invest more in starting De Novo (new location or start-up) fertility practices this year. 

With regard to acquisitions of fertility centers in 2023, Groberg anticipates another tale of two kinds.

“I expect that acquirers will continue with more prudent valuations and terms.  Also, there seem to be fewer multi-physician practices available, which likely will reduce overall activity but might increase the multiples for the strong, multi-physician practices that are interested in selling”.

 

The themes reported in this publication are those of the news. They do not reflect the views of Inside Reproductive Health, nor of the Advertiser

Corrections and Additions, January 27, 2023:

Correction: US Fertility's acquisition of Center of Reproductive Medicine in the Houston area was announced in January 2022.

Addition: Inception Fertility reported to Inside Reproductive Health that Prelude's acquisition of Main Line Fertility in the Philadelphia area took place in 2022.

Fertility Provider and Staff Utilization Rate Benchmarks Revealed
 

One fertility company releases their averages for 

  • Ultrasounds per IVF cycle

  • Time required for each Ultrasound

  • Ultrasonographer Time

  • Ultrasonographer Salary with Benefits

  • Nursing Time per IVF Scan

  • Nursing Salary with Benefits

  • MA Salary with Benefits

  • MD Revenue Working Top of License/hr

See how your fertility center compares

 
 

All external links active as of 1/19/23.

External links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Fertility Bridge or Inside Reproductive Health of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Neither Fertility Bridge nor Inside Reproductive Health bears responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

British Invasion: UK's Largest Fertility Group Makes First US Acquisition

This News Digest Brought to You by
CYCLE CLARITY

 
 
 

BY RACHEL LELAND

CARE Fertility, the United Kingdom's largest fertility group, has announced its first-ever entry into the United States fertility market by acquiring REACH, a former Integramed fertility clinic in Charlotte, North Carolina with four REI physicians and four advanced practice providers (APP).

The acquisition, along with one other, are CARE's first outside of the U.K. and Ireland. In tandem with announcing the REACH acquisition, CARE announced it was buying IVF-Life Spain. 

The financier behind CARE is Nordic Capital, which bought CARE from Silverfleet Capital in January 2022, to support the fertility group’s expansion into international markets. CARE Fertility generated €74 million in revenue in 2021. Nordic Capital reports €31 billion in assets under management from 47 investments in its current portfolio. According to Crunch Base, the international investment firm is based in Copenhagen.

Robert Goodman, Vice President at MidCap Advisors, an investment banking firm which handles mergers and acquisitions, and is familiar with REACH, said that he couldn’t speak to the dollar figure of the deal because MidCap was not involved in this sale. Goodman estimates the range of the deal was “probably a low double digit multiple of EBITDA.” 

According to Patrick McPhillips, Executive Director at REACH, the North Carolina clinic ultimately decided to liaise with the buyer directly, rather than work with an investment banking firm.

As the largest provider group of IVF in the U.K., CARE does about 10,000 fresh treatment cycles every year and a similar number of frozen embryo procedures, according to Alison Campbell, Chief Scientific Officer at CARE. REACH currently does just under 600 retrievals per year according to McPhillips.

Campbell called their acquisition timely, because of a shortage of embryologists in the U.S., which is largely due, in their view, to a lack of adequate embryology training programs. CARE launched a master's program in clinical embryology in partnership with Liverpool John Moores University in 2022.

“We use half a billion images of thousands and thousands of embryos to train the machine learning to automatically annotate these timelapse videos,” Campbell said. “So that in itself is saving twenty-three weeks of embryology time across the group. A real efficiency gain there.” 

McPhillips, says one of the most significant benefits of the partnership for REACH will be having access to CARE’s extensive network of data. While the two clinics are in the beginning stages of the integration, REACH will soon have access to CARE’s IT systems and Power BI, the cloud-based analytics service that CARE uses to visualize and analyze data from its over twenty clinics in the U.K. 

According to Campbell, CARE and REACH are already talking about introducing CAREmaps, CARE’s trademarked time-lapse imaging technique, which helps clinicians select embryos that have the highest potential without needing genetic testing. 

CARE was co-founded in 1997 by Dr. Simon Fishel, who was a part of the team that created the world's first IVF baby in 1978. REACH was founded in 1988 by Dr. Richard L Wing.

Campbell says that CARE is looking at partnering with even more clinics in the Southeast and the broader U.S. 

REACH says they will maintain their name and not take on the CARE name in the United States.

“CARE isn’t going to rebrand us or make us one of many,” McPhillips said. 

The themes reported in this publication are those of the news. They do not reflect the views of Inside Reproductive Health, nor of the Advertiser

IVF Center Performing 1,500 cycles loses $2.38 million


Artificial Intelligence company calculates the expense and time presets of ultrasounds per IVF cycle and per OI cycle. The time and revenue audit of clinical inefficiencies during monitoring ultrasounds reveals that the average IVF center, doing 1,500 IVF cycles per year, loses $9,168.25 per day.

 
 

All external links active as of 1/12/23.

External links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Fertility Bridge or Inside Reproductive Health of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Neither Fertility Bridge nor Inside Reproductive Health bears responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

Investigation: Progyny Aim of 'Wall Street Suing Machine' After Anonymous Firm Alleges Deceptive Accounting in Competitor-Informed Short Report

This News Digest Brought to You by
BUNDL

 
 
 

BY ERIN FLYNN JAY
 
Rosen Law Firm, The Schall Law Firm, and two other national shareholder rights litigation firms, each announced an investigation of potential securities claims on behalf of shareholders of Progyny, Inc., the largest fertility employer benefit company (NASDAQ: PGNY). 
 
The litigators cite a competitor-informed report by unknown authors that alleges that Progyny “is deceiving the investor community via its financial reporting practices”.
 
On December 7, 2022, Jehoshaphat Research published a short report addressing Progyny, entitled “A Love Child of Accounting Games & Credit Risk. The Jehoshaphat Report alleges that Progyny “is deceiving the investor community via its financial reporting practices” and that Progyny “is actually unprofitable but masks this problem with accounting games.” Among other items, the report alleges that Progyny recently stopped accruing allowances for customer cancellations.
 
According to the report, an employee of KindBody, a competitor of Progyny, talked to the Jehosaphat Research Group. We asked KindBody to comment on who that was and what their relationship with Jehosaphat is. Gina Bartasi, Chair, replied in an email: “We do not know who spoke with Jehosaphat. We won't be weighing in on this report.”

Six investment banks, including KeyBanc Capital and JP Morgan Securities provide analysis on Progyny. None of them have issued short reports on the company.

Rosen Law, Schall Law, and the two other law firms are investigating claims on behalf of investors of Progyny, Inc. (NASDAQ: PGNY) for violations of securities laws. The Rosen Law Firm is preparing a class action seeking recovery of investor losses. Rosen has ranked in the top four of securities class action firms nationwide each year since 2013 by ISS Securities Class Action Services. This ranking is based on the volume of settlements.  
David Sable, a former practicing fertility specialist who now manages a life sciences fund, said “occasionally these types of lawsuits are substantive and unearth malfeasance. Often, they are reverse-pump and dump schemes that cause brief movements in the stock if the firm (already having sold the stock short) can cover the short sale and make a profit.
“There is a well-oiled suing machine on Wall Street that responds to sudden stock drops by filing class action suits — they race to the courthouse to be first to file. The outcomes rarely benefit the shareholders; company boards sometimes pay a ‘settlement’ to make the nuisance suits go away,” he added. 
When reached by phone, Laurence Rosen of Rosen Law Firm said he does not comment on litigation. 

Jehoshaphat Research is operating anonymously, according to their website. 

Neither Progyny nor Jehoshaphat Research responded to requests for comment. 

The themes reported in this publication are those of of the news. They do not reflect the views of Inside Reproductive Health, nor of the Advertiser

IVF Ready Patients in Your Area

Most patients come to BUNDL because they don’t have insurance, or their insurance doesn’t adequately cover IVF or other fertility treatments. See how BUNDL reduces financial risk for patients at no fee to the practice.

They may even have patients in your area who are financially eligible but have not yet found a fertility provider. Contact BUNDL to see if they have IVF-ready patients in your area. 

 
 

All external links active as of 12/14/22.

External links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Fertility Bridge or Inside Reproductive Health of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Neither Fertility Bridge nor Inside Reproductive Health bears responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: CEO Pardew's Last Day At CCRM Friday

CCRM's is Second Fertility Network Chief to Step Down in as Many Months

 

BY RON SHINKMAN, special to Inside Reproductive Health

The chief executive officer and president of one of the nation’s largest fertility clinics is stepping down, Inside Reproductive Health has learned. It’s the second exit of a head of a large reproductive health  provider in recent weeks.

Jon Pardew’s last day with the Lone Tree, Colo.-based CCRM Fertility is scheduled for this Friday, Oct. 21, a source inside the company said. He has been working remotely for an unspecified period of time.

While an exact reason has not been discerned for Pardew’s departure, a source familiar with the situation said it was health-related but not life-threatening. Pardew and a CCRM spokesperson did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.

The 51-year-old Pardew has led CCRM and its affiliate companies since October 2013. At the time, it operated single clinics in Colorado and Houston and was then known as the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine.

CCRM Fertility has grown dramatically during Pardew’s tenure. It now operates 22 clinics in nine states, as well as two additional clinics in Canada. Its most recent acquisition occurred over the summer, when it acquired The Institute for Reproductive Medicine & Science (IRMS) , which has offices in both New York and New Jersey.

Revenue data for the privately-held CCRM Fertility, purchased by Unified Women's Healthcare from TA Associates in 2021, is not available, although GrowJo and ZoomInfo estimate it is between $75 million and $80 million per year.

Industry observers praised Pardew’s leadership.

“Jon was an incredibly thoughtful leader who approached his work as a service. He led the organization with incredible integrity and strength through the pandemic (and always),” said Carol Lynn Curchoe, a former IVF lab supervisor with CCRM Fertility, in an email. “I admire his authenticity greatly.”

Richard Groberg, a Las Vegas-based finance and private equity executive who has worked extensively in the reproductive health space, said in an email that Pardew was “dedicated and
fair.”

Prior to his tenure at CCRM, Pardew served as a managing director at St. Charles Capital, a Denver-based boutique venture capital firm, a plant manager for General Mills and as a U.S. Army officer.

No succession plans have been announced at CCRM Fertility, and Pardew is still listed as the CEO and president on the company’s website as well as his LinkedIn profile. A source said that a recruitment firm has been retained by CCRM Fertility to find Pardew’s successor.

Both Curchoe and Groberg said it would be tough finding a replacement of Pardew’s caliber, but that the company should still fare well.

Along with Pardew’s departure, Mark Segal announced in late September he was stepping down as CEO of US Fertility, which operates 69 locations nationwide. Richard Jennings, current CEO of Generate Life Sciences, will replace him. Jennings has already been named to the US Fertility board.

Segal’s last day is Dec. 31. He will become chairman of the US Fertility board of directors upon leaving the CEO post, which he has held since the company formed in 2020. He had been the CEO of Shady Grove Fertility since 1997.  “Mark has been a powerful force in shaping US Fertility and the reproductive industry,” said Jay Rose, a managing director at Amulet Capital and a US Fertility board member.

The themes reported in this publication are those of the news. They do not reflect the views of Inside Reproductive Health, nor of the Advertiser

 
 

All external links active as of 10/18/22.

External links are being provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only; they do not constitute an endorsement or an approval by Fertility Bridge or Inside Reproductive Health of any of the products, services or opinions of the corporation or organization or individual. Neither Fertility Bridge nor Inside Reproductive Health bears responsibility for the accuracy, legality or content of the external site or for that of subsequent links. Contact the external site for answers to questions regarding its content.