Waud Capital Partners (“WCP”) today announced that it has partnered with healthcare executives David Lowenberg and Sue Sommer in its acquisition of Sterling Reference Laboratories. Sterling will serve as the platform investment in the firm’s effort to build an industry-leading toxicology services company serving criminal justice, substance abuse, medication monitoring and employment testing clients nationwide.
Sterling is a regional provider of drugs-of-abuse laboratory testing and related products and services used to screen, diagnose and treat individuals undergoing medical or professional treatment programs, criminal justice proceedings or employment checks. The company was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Tacoma, WA (www.sterlingreflabs.com).
“WCP has been actively exploring investment opportunities in the multi-billion dollar toxicology services market for some time. Through our evaluation, we believe there is a substantial growth opportunity for those providers with a differentiated value proposition that is complemented by a full suite of services and we believe Sterling provides an excellent foundation in that regard,” said Matt Clary, Partner at WCP.
Waud Capital Partners makes investments from $10 million to $100 million in middle-market companies with enterprise values from $30 million to $300 million that operate in the following sectors: healthcare services; business and consumer services; specialty distribution; and select industrial businesses. The firm is located in Chicago, IL (www.waudcapital.com).
“We are excited to have partnered with Waud Capital Partners. The firm has established an impressive track record in healthcare services and we believe their understanding of the toxicology services market, coupled with their fresh perspective, will allow us to accelerate the growth of Sterling,” said Evans Calas, Co-Founder of Sterling.
David Lowenberg joins Sterling as its Chairman along with Sue Sommer, who will serve as President. Mr. Lowenberg and Ms. Sommer previously worked together at Express Scripts for more than a decade. Mr. Lowenberg retired as a senior executive of Express Scripts in 2008, having served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and as Chief Executive Officer of CuraScript, one of the company’s business units. Ms. Sommer joins Sterling most recently from UnitedHealth Group where she served as Vice President of both Intersegment Management and Medicare Solutions. Prior to her tenure at UnitedHealth, Ms. Sommer served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Development at CuraScript.
“Sue and I are thrilled to be joining Sterling and the existing management team, who have built a strong, compliance-focused business with a reputation for excellent customer service. As a SAMHSA-certified laboratory, Sterling is well-positioned to continue to serve the demands of regulated markets, but also positioned to leverage Sterling’s high quality operations to better serve customers across all market segments,” said David Lowenberg, Chairman of Sterling.
