Deal comes as investor approaches close of second flagship fund

Long-term investor Altas Partners has agreed to acquire specialty chemical supplier DuBois Chemicals Inc. from owner Jordan Co., according to people familiar with the deal.

The deal with Altas would mark an exit for Jordan Co., which bought the company in 2017. Since then, it has grown through acquisitions, including the purchase of BHS Specialty Chemical Products, a manufacturer and distributor of chemicals, and at least four deals in recent years.

The terms of the deal couldn’t be learned.

DuBois, based in Sharonville, Ohio, provides industrial chemicals for water treatment, aerospace uses, auto wash and detailing, manufacturing and transportation. It serves more than 15,000 customers globally.

The investment comes as Altas nears the final close of its second long-term investment vehicle, which has a $3 billion hard cap, according to one of the people. Altas raised $1 billion for its previous fund, which it closed in 2016, saying at the time it could hold portfolio companies as long as 17 years.

The Toronto-based private-equity firm typically aims to hold companies longer than the standard period of roughly five years. Altas generally makes one or two new deals a year.

Earlier this year, it closed on a $400 million purchase of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, an educator of physical therapists and occupational therapists with campuses in California, Texas and Florida.

Altas also had a large exit earlier this year when it agreed to sell Capital Vision Services LP—which manages MyEyeDr. Optometry practices—to the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The deal was valued at $2.7 billion, including debt, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Altas had invested in the company alongside Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

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LAURA COOPER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Altas Partners (“Altas”), a long-term oriented investment firm, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DuBois Chemicals, Inc. (“DuBois” or the “Company”), a leading specialty chemical supplier, from The Jordan Company, L.P. (“TJC”). Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

DuBois is a premier provider of customized and value-added specialty chemicals solutions and services to a global customer base. The Company combines local high-touch technical service, leading R&D capabilities, customized equipment solutions, and deep knowledge of manufacturing processes to deliver reliable, mission-critical, and innovative products to more than 15,000 customers globally across a spectrum of industries and end markets. DuBois’ full suite of solutions and services brings leading, reliable technologies that reduce chemical, water, labour, and energy costs for customers and support their operations to improve quality and efficiency.

“We chose to partner with Altas because their team shares our conviction and excitement regarding the long-term opportunity for DuBois, making the firm an ideal partner as we enter our next phase of growth,” said Jeff Welsh, President and CEO of DuBois. “With Altas’ support, we look forward to continuing the development of the business through both organic growth and continued selective acquisitions. We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received from The Jordan Company, and we thank them for their guidance and partnership.”

“Over its 99-year history, Dubois has built its position as a leading international provider of specialty chemical solutions, through a focus on innovation, quality production, and customer service,” said David Brent, a Partner at Altas. “For Altas, this investment is the culmination of a multi-year effort to identify a world-class platform and team that we can partner with in the specialty chemicals industry. We look forward to supporting Jeff and the DuBois team as they continue to build on the company’s success and leadership in the coming years.”

“We are proud of the growth that DuBois has achieved during our ownership period. DuBois’ tremendous advancements are a testament to Jeff’s strong leadership and the company’s outstanding management team. We expect Altas will be a great next partner for DuBois and look forward to watching the company’s continued success,” said Ian Arons, a Partner at TJC.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2019, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

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ABOUT ALTAS PARTNERS

Founded in 2012, Altas Partners is an investment firm with a long-term orientation focused on acquiring significant interests in high-quality, market-leading businesses in partnership with outstanding management teams. The firm manages more than $6 billion on behalf of endowments, foundations, public pension funds, and other institutional investors. The firm’s past and present portfolio companies include University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Tecta America, Hub International, PADI, Medforth Global Healthcare Education, Capital Vision Services, and NSC Minerals. For more information, please visit https://www.altas.com

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ABOUT DUBOIS CHEMICALS

Founded in 1920, DuBois is a market-leading full-service provider of customized specialty chemical solutions. The company researches, develops, manufacturers, and supports a broad range of customized specialty chemical products and related equipment to provide solutions to customers’ most challenging performance, quality, cost, safety, and compliance issues for a variety of industries. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the company leverages its proprietary chemistries and unique on-site service and support to offer a compelling value proposition by reducing downtime, minimizing defects, and extending equipment life for its customers’ most-critical applications. As a result, DuBois maintains strong loyalty across a diverse customer base that relies on its technical expertise and broad suite of product solutions to ensure their machinery, processes, and systems run seamlessly. For more information, please visit www.duboischemicals.com.

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ABOUT THE JORDAN COMPANY

The Jordan Company, founded in 1982, is a middle-market private equity firm that has managed funds with original capital commitments in excess of $11 billion since 1987 and a 37-year track record of investing in and contributing to the growth of many businesses across a wide range of industries including Business Services, Consumer & Healthcare, Financial Services, Industrials & Distribution, Telecom, Technology & Utility and Transportation & Logistics. The senior investment team has been investing together for over 20 years and is supported by the Operations Management Group, which was established in 1988 to initiate and support operational improvements in portfolio companies. Headquartered in New York, TJC also has an office in Chicago. For more information, please visit www.thejordancompany.com.

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Andrew Sheiner explores the current state of the private equity industry, the mix of economic factors that could trigger a downturn, and the precautions managers need to take as we get closer to the end of the cycle.

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Altas Partners (“Altas”), a long-term oriented private equity investment firm, today announced the appointment of Kathleen (“Katie”) Taylor to the newly created position of Chair of Altas Partners. “The appointment of Katie marks an important milestone in the ongoing evolution of Altas,” said Andrew Sheiner, Founder and Managing Partner of Altas Partners. “Katie brings tremendous leadership experience to the firm as well as deep expertise in the areas of organizational effectiveness and talent management. These capabilities will strengthen our firm and help us deliver on our commitment to be excellent partners to our management teams as we work to build great companies together.”

In addition to her role at Altas, Ms. Taylor currently serves as Chair of the Royal Bank of Canada, Vice Chair at The Adecco Group and a director of Air Canada, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and MyEyeDr., an Altas portfolio company. Ms. Taylor is involved with several not-for-profit organizations including as Chair of the Board of the SickKids Foundation. Previously, Ms. Taylor was President & CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts where she was instrumental in building Four Seasons’ global brand, service culture and international portfolio of luxury properties over a career that spanned more than 23 years. For additional background please visit https://www.altas.com/#team.

“Altas’ focus is to own and build great companies, and that resonates with me very much,” said Ms. Taylor. “As a long-term Altas Advisory Board member, I’ve come to appreciate first-hand the firm’s strong value proposition and its appeal to business owners and management teams seeking a thoughtful and long-term oriented partner. I am honoured to be named Chair of Altas Partners and am delighted to be joining its wonderful team.”

Kathleen Taylor, the former CEO of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, took on the role this month, Managing Partner Andrew Sheiner told Buyouts.

As part of the job, Taylor will provide advice and support to companies in the portfolio, Sheiner said, drawing on her more than three decades of experience as a senior executive.

“We expect Katie will be an excellent resource, sounding board and thought partner for our CEOs as they manage and grow their businesses,” he said.

The appointment builds on Taylor’s prior four years as a member of Altas’ advisory board, a role that enabled her first contributions to the portfolio.

In 2016, Taylor became a key adviser to Sue Downes, co-founder and CEO of MyEyeDr, a U.S. network of optometry and eye-care practices. Managed by Capital Vision Services, the business was acquired a year earlier by a group led by Altas and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Deepening her involvement in 2017 by joining MyEyeDr’s board, Taylor supported Downes and the management team on a range of issues and initiatives, including long-term strategy, organizational effectiveness and talent acquisition.

This month, Goldman Sachs agreed to acquire MyEyeDr, reportedly for US$2.7 billion. The deal is expected to generate a return of about 3.5 x for Altas, Buyouts reported.

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Trailblazer

Joining Altas’ team is the latest milestone in Taylor’s career, which includes a record of blazing trails for women in the corporate world.

Starting out as a lawyer, Taylor was hired in 1989 by Four Seasons and over a 24-year tenure rose in the luxury hotel chain’s management ranks. In 2007, she became president and COO, and in 2010, CEO, making her one of only a few Canadian female executives to hold the top C-suite job, then and today.

Taylor broke another glass ceiling in 2014 with her appointment as chair of Royal Bank of Canada. She was the first woman to lead the board of a major bank in Canada and one of a handful to do so globally.

Taylor also serves as vice-chair of Adecco Group and as a director of Air Canada and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.

Sheiner, a former senior Onex Corp executive, founded Altas in 2012. An early adopter of the long-life philosophy in private equity, the Toronto firm focuses on buying hard-to-replicate companies and holding them indefinitely.

Taylor told Buyouts Altas’ strategy “resonates with me very much,” noting she has “come to appreciate first-hand” the firm’s appeal to owner-operators “seeking a thoughtful and long-term oriented partner.”

Other senior members of Altas’ team include Managing Partner Scott Werry and Partners Christopher McElhone, Paul Nicoletti, David Brent and Damon Conway.

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KIRK FALCONER, PE HUB; BUYOUTS

West Street Capital Partners VII, a fund managed by the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs (“GS MBD”), Altas Partners (“Altas”) and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (“CDPQ”) announced today their entry into a definitive agreement under which GS MBD will acquire Capital Vision Services, LP (“CVS”) from Altas and CDPQ. CVS, which provides management services to MyEyeDr. O.D.’s (“MyEyeDr.” or the “Company”) optometry practices, supports affiliated independent MyEyeDr. optometrists and their practices with a complete array of financial, marketing, human resources, and accounting services, along with managed care credentialing and claims processing. MyEyeDr. practices offer patients personalized and essential eye care services, an unmatched selection of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, and standard and specialty contact lenses to meet their unique vision, health and wellness needs.

“We are thrilled to partner with GS MBD as we turn to the next chapter of our growth and champion a new path for eye care,” said Sue Downes, Co-Founder and CEO of CVS. “GS MBD’s funds have a long and established track record of successfully scaling healthcare companies, and we look forward to leveraging their expertise as we provide even more patients access to the latest in vision care technology.”

“We also thank Altas and CDPQ for their partnership and invaluable support these last several years,” added Downes. “By leveraging their operational expertise and strategic insight, we were able to significantly enhance our capabilities, processes and systems and strengthen our senior management team with the addition of multiple key hires.”

“We are very excited to announce this transaction and mark the beginning of the next chapter of CVS’ success,” said Jo Natauri, Global Head of Healthcare Investing for the Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division. “We look forward to partnering with this talented management team and building on their foundation of commercial and operational excellence. CVS has a proven consumer-directed healthcare model that champions optometrists and promotes eye health. We are proud to support the Company’s continued growth and pleased about this new investment, which expands our portfolio in the healthcare services sector.” “We are extremely proud to have partnered with Sue Downes, David Sheffer and the entire CVS management team during this time of tremendous growth and development for the Company,” said Scott Werry, a Managing Partner of Altas. “At the time of our investment in 2015, CVS managed 165 practices in 7 states; by the end of this year, the Company’s footprint will have grown to 575 practices in 18 states nationwide. CVS is well ahead of schedule in achieving our strategic vision for the business, which was focused on significantly enhancing its scale and scope while delivering improved patient outcomes across its affiliated practices.”

“CVS achieved tremendous success in growing the Company during the past few years. This is now a world-class organization that is poised for continued growth in the coming years,” said Stéphane Etroy, Executive Vice-President and Head of Private Equity at CDPQ. “It is a great experience to work alongside an exceptional management team such as the one leading CVS and support them with the right mix of strategic input and tools that enable them to thrive.”

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2019 subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.

About Capital Vision Services, LP Founded in 2001, Capital Vision Services, which provides management services to full-service optometry practices, is a market leader. Its affiliated MyEyeDr. practices offer patients exceptional full-service vision care, a wide selection of prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses, and standard and specialty contact lenses. Capital Vision Services provides affiliated, independent optometrists with a complete array of financial, marketing, human resources and accounting services, along with managed care credentialing and claims processing.

For more information: https://www.capitalvisionservices.com/

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About Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division Founded in 1869, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division is the primary center for the firm’s long-term principal investing activity. With nine offices across seven countries, Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division is one of the leading private capital investors in the world with equity and credit investments across corporate, real estate and infrastructure strategies. Since 1986, the group has invested approximately $180 billion of levered capital across a number of geographies, industries and transaction types.

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About Altas Partners Founded in 2012, Altas Partners is an investment firm with a long-term orientation focused on acquiring significant interests in high-quality, market-leading businesses in partnership with outstanding management teams. The firm manages more than $6 billion on behalf of endowments, foundations, public pension funds and other institutional investors. The firm’s past and present portfolio companies include University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, Tecta America, Hub International, PADI, Capital Vision Services, Medforth Global Healthcare Education, and NSC Minerals.

For more information: https://www.altas.com

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About Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) is a long-term institutional investor that manages funds primarily for public and parapublic pension and insurance plans. As of December 31, 2018, it held CA$309.5 billion in net assets. As one of Canada’s leading institutional fund managers, CDPQ invests globally in major financial markets, private equity, infrastructure, real estate and private debt. For more information, visit cdpq.com, follow us on Twitter @LaCDPQ or consult our Facebook or LinkedIn pages. Media Contacts:

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For Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division: Leslie Shribman U.S.: +1 (212) 902 5400

For Altas Partners: Sard Verbinnen & Co. Julie Rudnick / Kevin Siegel

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The merchant-banking division of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is buying the company that manages MyEyeDr. optometry practices from private-equity firm Altas Partners LP and Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

The deal for Capital Vision Services LP is valued at $2.7 billion, including debt, and is expected to be announced on Monday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Capital Vision supports independent optometrists and practices affiliated with the MyEyeDr. brand by providing them with financial, marketing, human-resources and accounting services, in addition to helping them with things like claims processing. MyEyeDr. practices offer vision-care services and sell prescription eyeglasses, sunglasses and contact lenses.

By the end of this year, the company will have grown to 575 practices in 18 states, up from 165 in seven states at the time it was bought by Altas in 2015. Under the leadership of co-founder and Chief Executive Sue Downes, the company has also expanded medical services, such as retinal imaging, and the variety of frames it offers to practices.

Altas, which bought the business with CDPQ for $775 million, was ahead of schedule on its growth plans and ran an auction process after receiving unsolicited interest in the company, one of the people said.

For private equity, the model of rolling up independent health-care providers in areas such as optometry, dentistry, veterinary- and physical-therapy services under one operator has been a favored strategy.

Based in Toronto, Altas manages more than $6 billion of assets. Its strategy gives it the flexibility to hold businesses for longer than the typical buyout firm does. Its founder, Andrew Sheiner, left private-equity firm Onex Corp. to start the firm in 2012.

Goldman’s merchant-banking division manages equity and credit investments across corporate, real estate and infrastructure strategies. Since 1986, it has invested roughly $180 billion in the health-care sector.

Sumit Rajpal and Andrew Wolff recently took over day-to-day oversight of the business from Rich Friedman, one of Goldman’s longest-serving partners. The bank plans to raise new private-equity funds that it can charge fees to manage, and over time invest less of its own cash directly in deals.

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MIRIAM GOTTFRIED, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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CANADIAN GRADUATES OF ST. GEORGE’S UNIVERSITY’S MEDICAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE HIGH MATCHING RATES, OPPORTUNITIES GLOBALLY AND ACROSS NORTH AMERICA

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When Vancouver-born Jonathan Phang had completed his undergraduate degree at McGill University in Montreal, he began applying to Canadian and U.S. medical schools. Not initially accepted, he pondered what to do next and considered getting his master’s degree. Then, as he puts it, “St. George’s University caught my eye.”

“It had a very strong curriculum and produced a lot of great doctors in both the U.S. and Canada. It was very credible,” says Phang. Fast-forward several years and several clinical rotations later – at hospitals across the U.S. in New York, New Jersey, California, Nevada and Georgia – and Phang is now back in Canada, in his first year of the psychiatry residency program at the University of Saskatchewan.

“The diversity [of my experience in the U.S. programs] definitely helped me match here,” he says. “I’ve been in Saskatchewan since last May and I’m loving it.”

With a combination of high residency matches, highly qualified faculty and an exceptional support system for its students, it is no wonder that increasing numbers of Canadian medical students are choosing Caribbean-based St. George’s University (SGU) to pursue their medical degrees.

Founded on the island of Grenada in the West Indies, SGU’s School of Medicine officially opened its doors to a small group of students in January 1977.

Today, SGU boasts more than 16,000 graduates in medicine and has been the No. 1 provider of doctors into first-year residencies in the U.S. for the last eight years combined. It is also the third-largest source of physicians for the entire U.S. workforce. In Canada, 143 SGU students have matched into first-year residency programs over the last 10 years, including 16 so far in 2019. Hundreds more have obtained residency positions in the U.S.

SGU students are matching in a broad range of specialties, including internal medicine, family medicine, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, neurology, pathology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, surgery and urology.

Ninety-one per cent of eligible Canadian students who applied for a residency position in 2018 in either Canada or the U.S. were successful. “Canadian students stand a much higher chance of matching to a residency program of their choice in North America than anywhere in the world outside of Canada,” says Sandra Banner, St. George’s University Canadian consultant and the former director of the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS).

Banner notes students are extensively prepared for both the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and the Medical Council of Canada exams. In 2017, first-time Canadian test-takers from SGU had a 99-per-cent pass rate for Step 1 of the USMLE, which is on par with U.S. student test-takers.

“The advantages at SGU over other programs are its diversity, in terms of breadth of student population, teaching facilities and eventually where its graduates practise,” notes Josh Ramjist, who studied in the UK for the first year as a member of SGU’s Keith B. Taylor Global Scholars Program. In 2011, Ramjist started residency in general surgery at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., and is currently the hospital’s chief resident in the department of surgery. He plans to return to Canada this summer to start a fellowship in pediatric trauma at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“I can’t think of too many medical schools that have as many countries represented as SGU does,” Ramjist says. “Our teaching facilities are vast, designed to facilitate students becoming top academic achievers, and then it grows to our geographically dispersed affiliated hospitals throughout North America and the U.K.

“With thousands of graduates practicing in a wide range of specialties globally, the SGU ‘family’ of alumni are further changing the way medicine is practised globally.”

In addition to a highly qualified faculty (SGU has close to 2,000 campus-based and clinical faculty, and those with professorial rank have either a PhD, an MD or both), the university is renowned for its support system, offered through the department of education services (DES). Almost all students access this unique system, which offers support in myriad areas, from time management, study and test-taking skills to assistance with reducing anxiety.

“We had a dean from a Canadian medical school visit the campus a few year ago, who said there isn’t a school in Canada that offers the same level of support,” says SGU Canadian consultant Chuck Furey, a former MLA for Newfoundland and Labrador. “He thought it was an exceptional part of the program.”

“The student supports are simply outstanding. SGU is dedicated to helping students from the beginning of the journey to obtaining residencies, from exams to special tutorials,” Furey adds. “It’s really something spectacular to behold.”

“The university offers lot of academic support,” agrees Phang. “If you are ever struggling in a class or with study habits, they have DES small group programs that can help you with study strategies,” he adds, noting that faculty members are “more than willing to meet with you one-on-one.”

“I’m very thankful for the opportunities afforded to me by SGU,” says Ramjist. “I think back to where I was when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto and thought there was a future in medicine for me, but I wasn’t sure exactly how or what path it would take. I’ve never regretted attending SGU for a minute and would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“It’s not a second choice,” adds Banner. “It’s a first-choice school, with first-choice results.”

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JODIE WARREN, NATIONAL POST

Altas Partners has completed its previously announced acquisition of the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS), a leading graduate health sciences academic institution.

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Founded in 1979, USAHS currently educates its students through its network of campuses in San Marcos, California; St. Augustine, Florida; Austin, Texas; and Miami, Florida, and through its online programs. USAHS is the largest educator of physical therapists and occupational therapists in the US, and also offers graduate degrees in nursing and other areas related to its core mission of quality health sciences education.

USAHS focuses on the development of professional health care practitioners through innovative, individualized and quality classroom, clinical and distance education. USAHS is regionally accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission.

For more information, please visit www.usa.edu.