St. Croix Hospice Purchases Three Companies from LifeCare Collective

St. Croix Hospice, a portfolio company of the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, has acquired three Missouri companies from LifeCare Collective — HomeCare of Mid Missouri, Nurses & Company and Transitions Hospice. Financial terms were undisclosed.

The deal adds four locations to St. Croix’s footprint, bringing their total number of Missouri offices to six. Texas-based M&A advisory firm Agenda Health facilitated the transaction.

“This transaction was a really good fit for both. [LifeCare CEO Bobby Robertson] is very strategic. He sets his target for where he can maximize the potential of the business,” Al Veach, founder and CEO of Agenda Health, told Hospice News. “He felt like it was a good time for one of the larger entities to take it and bring it to the next level. We found a great partner that was able to meet that financial requirement and was really interested in Missouri in a big way.”

St. Croix in 2020 acquired Missouri-based Serenity Care Hospice and also recently opened a de novo in the City of Independence.

The Missouri market has been heating up during 2021. LifeCare attracted a number of prospective buyers who were willing to pay “top dollar” to gain a foothold in Missouri, according to Veach.

A key driver is demographics. The proportion of seniors older than 65 in Missouri’s population is expected to reach 19.1% by 2025, up from 13.5% in 2000 and 13.6% in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Hospice utilization in Missouri reached 50.2% among Medicare decedents in 2018, which is in line with that year’s national average, according to the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization. Utah leads the nation in utilization at 60.4%.

“Missouri is a really hot area for us. We did three or four transactions there in a span of just a couple of months, and we’re about to close another one,” Veach said. “This was a highly competitive deal. There were several others that wanted it and didn’t get it.”

St. Croix has also been aggressive on de novos. The company opened seven new locations during 2020 and five so far in 2021.

“We are delighted to expand our care in Missouri with four new locations,” said Heath Bartness, St. Croix Hospice CEO. “These teams are already experts at providing superior care in their communities and well-positioned to extend the St. Croix Hospice mission to more hospice patients throughout Missouri.”