BlueSpire Strategic Marketing, a portfolio company of High Road Capital Partners, has acquired Martino & Binzer, a marketing agency that specializes in the senior living sector.
“Senior living communities are increasingly relying on sophisticated marketing services, such as those provided by Martino & Binzer, to build brand awareness, increase occupancy, and drive census. Martino & Binzer’s customer base makes it a natural partner for BlueSpire. Both companies bring complementary know-how in overlapping markets and highly regulated industries,” said Jeff Goodrich, High Road Partner.
Martino & Binzer is a provider of marketing, sales consulting, and technology services to the senior living and continuing care retirement services sector. Martino & Binzer was founded in 1980 and is headquartered in Farmington, CT (www.goodbait.com).
“This combination expands BlueSpire’s range of digital marketing services and enhances our ability to reach the important senior demographic for our healthcare and financial clients,” said Kathryn Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of BlueSpire. Ms. Hammond will serve as CEO of the combined business.
BlueSpire Strategic Marketing is a provider of strategy, technology, and content services for companies operating in the healthcare and financial services sectors. BlueSpire has a specialization in multi-channel marketing services with a strong emphasis on end-user content and digital media. BlueSpire was formed through the combination of Dowden Custom Media and Priority Integrated Marketing, which Dowden acquired in June 2011. In November 2012, High Road Capital Partners split Dowden Custom Media into two separate portfolio companies – Dowden Medical Communications Group and BlueSpire Strategic Marketing – with High Road maintaining a majority ownership of both. BlueSpire is headquartered in Minneapolis (www.bluespiremarketing.com).
High Road Capital Partners invests in manufacturing, service, or value-added distribution businesses with revenues of $10 million to $100 million and EBITDAs of $3 million to $10 million. The firm was formed in 2007 and currently manages over $470 million of committed capital. High Road has completed 30 transactions, comprising 29 acquisitions – 12 platform investments, 17 add-on acquisitions – and two exits since its founding in 2007. High Road is based in New York (www.highroadcap.com).
Jeff Goodrich, Partner, led the transaction for High Road. Also working on the transaction from High Road were Ben Schnakenberg, Partner; Bill Hobbs, Partner; and Paul Langley, Senior Associate.
“We are extremely excited to partner with the BlueSpire team to extend a broader range of services to our core client base,” said Dave Martino, President of Martino & Binzer. Mr. Martino and other members of the company’s management team made an equity investment in the transaction alongside High Road. Mr. Martino will remain President of the Martino & Binzer business.
Financing for the acquisition of Martino & Binzer was provided by Fifth Third Bank.
© 2014 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 2-24-14
