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The Wellness Network
Case Study

Initial Business Overview
Developer of patient education content – videos and discharge instructions - for delivery at the point of care in the hospital setting
      Products     5 video channels and customizable print-based discharge instruction library
      Clients     2,200 of the nation’s largest hospitals including those operated by the Veterans Administration

Investment Thesis
  • Established provider of patient education content
  • Nascent subscription revenue model
  • Strong and experienced senior management team

Why Granite Bridge Partners?
  • Entrepreneur owner seeking liquidity of a business with long-tenured management desirous of continuing to grow the business
  • Willingness to capitalize with equity in order to devote cash flow to product enhancements

Compelling Situation
  • Contracted, visible revenue stream
  • Diverse customer base with largest customer accounting for less than 2% of revenue
  • Regulatory and reimbursement requirements driving hospitals to invest in patient education
  • Organic growth potential via multiple strategies
    • Expand existing customer relationships from single departments to entire hospital
    • Monetize distribution network through advertising supported products
  • Opportunity to grow through acquisition in a fragmented industry

Value Creation
Throughout the five-and-one-half-year investment period, the investment team worked with management to drive organic and acquisition-led growth in the business. During this time, The Wellness Network:
  • Grew revenue by more than 40%
  • Grew EBITDA by CAGR of 18.3%, improved EBITDA margins by 1,260 bps
  • Completed two accretive acquisitions:
    • Milner Fenwick - Enhanced content library and added in-house production capability
    • Bundoo - Brought substantial scale in advertising-supported products
  • Transitioned delivery of content from in-room television video loops to multi-platform on-demand delivery – including web-based and patient mobile devices
  • Launched content’s interoperability with the patients’ electronic health records

Result
The Wellness Network was sold to a strategic acquirer in July 2021


Company & Transaction Highlights
Sector
Point-of-care health education

Headquarters
Pewaukee, WI

Add-on Companies
Milner Fenwick
Bundoo
Transaction Type
Control & Recapitalization

Acquisition Date
December 2015

Exit Date
July 2021
 
 
Disclaimer: The track record information relates to portfolios managed by the principals of Granite Bridge Partners LLC (“Granite Bridge”), who were primarily responsible for account performance results, while they were employed by Wafra, Inc. (“Wafra”). Granite Bridge intends to pursue substantially the same or similar strategy that was pursued while the principals were employed by Wafra. As an internal group at Wafra, the track record is related to proprietary portfolios, which maintained an expense structure materially different than the expenses to be charged by Granite Bridge. Any portfolio investments contained herein were selected based on objective non-performance-based criteria and are not meant to be indicative or reflective of the portfolio of any fund or account managed by Granite Bridge. Rather, such case studies are meant to exemplify Granite Bridge’s analysis and execution of its investment strategy. Obviously, not all investments are successful and profitable. As such, the examples contained herein should not be viewed as representative of all investments made by Granite Bridge, but simply as examples of the types of successful investing Granite Bridge strives for. There is no guarantee that any fund managed by Granite Bridge will find similar opportunities or that any similar investments will be included in any such fund’s portfolio.