McCarthy Capital has sold its equity interest in Benaissance, a provider of outsourced business services, to Evolution1, a wholly-owned subsidiary of publicly traded WEX. McCarthy Capital first invested in Benaissance in 2008.
Benaissance provides health insurance premium billing and payment collection services and other outsourced services for insurance carriers, private exchanges, state health and human services and benefit administrators. The two major product lines of Benaissance include ExchangePoint, which provides financial management services to public and private health insurance exchanges for employers and individuals, and COBRApoint, which provides financial management, benefits administration and payment processing for individual subscribers. Benaissance was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Fargo, ND (www.benaissance.com).
“This sale represents the culmination of a long-term and successful partnership between McCarthy Capital and Benaissance,” said Patrick Duffy, President and Managing Partner at McCarthy Capital. “This investment has highlighted McCarthy Capital’s commitment to growing businesses in partnership with management teams retaining a significant ownership position, and we’re excited to watch Benaissance in its next stage of growth with WEX and Evolution1.” Over the past few years Benaissance and Evolution1 have built a working relationship and already share a number of mutual partners and customers.
Evolution1 provides healthcare and reimbursement account services – including Defined Contribution, HSAs, HRAs, FSAs, VEBAs, PRAs, Wellness, and Transit Plans – to more than 75,000 employers and more than 9,000,000 consumers. Customers include health plans, third-party administrators, financial institutions, and software providers. Evolution1, headquartered near Minneapolis in Edina, MN (www.evolution1.com), is a subsidiary of WEX (NYSE:WEX), a provider of payment processing and information management services headquartered in South Portland, ME (www.wexinc.com).
“This transaction closes a very successful partnership with McCarthy Capital and opens a new and exciting chapter in Benaissance’s growth story,” said John Jenkins, founder and CEO of Benaissance. “Benaissance could not have established its position as an industry leader in financial management solutions for America’s health benefits without the amazing support of McCarthy Capital.”
McCarthy Capital was founded by Michael McCarthy in 1986 and has invested in over fifty companies, including Cabela’s, Peak 10, Guild Mortgage Company, and Vornado Air. Today, the firm has approximately $1 billion in capital under management and is based in Omaha with an additional office in Boston (www.mccarthycapital.com).
McCarthy Capital has been very active lately. Earlier this month, the firm held a closing of McCarthy Capital Fund VI, LP at $213 million. The firm’s earlier fund, McCarthy Capital Fund V, had a final close in June 2011 with $158 million in capital.
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 11-20-15
