Healthcare private equity has drawn increasing attention from institutional investors over the past decade, but the model behind one of its most consistent track records is older than the trend itself. Reeve Waud has been running a version of it at Waud Capital Partners since the early 2000s: buy a platform company in a fragmented healthcare niche, recruit a seasoned management team, and then expand through a series of smaller acquisitions.
WCP calls this “buy-and-build,” and the results aren’t easy to dismiss. Across the firm’s healthcare investments, platform companies have averaged more than 10 add-on acquisitions each, producing revenue growth above 400%.
How the Model Works on the Ground
A typical WCP healthcare deal starts with sector research. The firm’s internal database tracks roughly 2.2 million companies, and a team of specialists uses it to map fragmented sub-sectors (behavioral health, gastroenterology, home health) where consolidation can create value without disrupting existing clinical operations.
Once a platform is acquired, Waud Capital pairs the company with an executive recruited through its in-house talent team. Add-on acquisitions follow, often at a steady clip. Reeve Waud has completed more than 500 acquisitions over his career, and most of those have been bolt-on deals designed to widen an existing platform’s footprint.
Acadia Healthcare: The First Platform
Acadia Healthcare is the deal most often cited when investors discuss WCP’s healthcare record. Reeve Waud formed Acadia in 2005, when behavioral health facilities were scattered across dozens of independent operators. Over six years, the company acquired and integrated enough locations to go public in 2011. Acadia Healthcare now operates more than 260 facilities across 40 states.
Revenue reached $3.1 billion for the first nine months of 2024. Acadia’s payer mix (57% Medicaid, 26% commercial insurance, 14% Medicare, 3% self-pay) reflects the range of patients the company serves.
GI Alliance and the Replication Test
GI Alliance offered a chance to apply the same playbook in gastroenterology. WCP built the company into one of the largest GI practice groups in the country through a string of physician-practice acquisitions.
A 2022 recapitalization, backed by Apollo Global Management, valued GI Alliance at approximately $2.2 billion Reeve Waud. Physician owners retained majority control under the new structure, but the valuation marked a large return for WCP and confirmed that the buy-and-build formula could produce outsize outcomes in more than one clinical specialty.
