Los Angeles, CA – Corridor Capital, LLC through its affiliated funds Corridor Capital III, L.P., Corridor Capital III International Holdings, LLC and Corridor Capital III Parallel, L.P. (collectively, “Corridor” and the funds, “Corridor Capital III”), has sold the businesses underlying Specialty Marketing & Communications Holdings, LLC, the holding company for its portfolio companies SPM Marketing & Communications (“SPM”), Centretek Digital (“Centretek”), Dreamscape Marketing (“Dreamscape”) and General Learning Communications (“GLC”) (collectively “SPM Group” or the “Company”), a leading digital-first, full-service healthcare marketing agency, to Unlock Health, a portfolio company of Amulet Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm, and Athyrium Capital Management, an asset management firm. This is the first exit for Corridor Capital III.
In April 2018, Corridor acquired a controlling interest in Illinois-headquartered SPM Marketing & Communications, Inc. with the thesis of building a full-service and fully integrated digital and traditional marketing agency servicing multiple healthcare verticals. Corridor applied its transformational investment methodology and collaborated with Company management, including selling owners Patti Winegar and Larry Margolis, CEO Amanda Seaford and CFO / COO Joel Wilcoxen, to build the necessary scalable infrastructure to pursue both organic and acquisition-based growth. With Corridor’s support, SPM ultimately expanded beyond the hospital and health systems market to serve additional healthcare verticals. Additionally, through three add-on acquisitions, SPM expanded its scope of service offerings and technology capabilities to become a digital-first agency.
“It has been a privilege to collaborate with Patti, Larry, Amanda, Joel and the rest of the SPM Group leadership team to help evolve an already highly competitive business within hospital and health systems into a digital, full-service, healthcare-focused marketing agency,” noted Corridor CEO Craig Enenstein. “Corridor’s purpose as a firm is to ally with strong management teams of lower middle market business services companies to help them achieve their full potential.”
Iman Navi, Managing Director of Corridor Capital, added, “We are extremely proud of the success that SPM Group and its management team have achieved during our investment. The Company has grown significantly and solidified its position as a valued partner to numerous health and healthcare related companies across various verticals. We are excited for the Company’s future and continue to be its advocate as it combines its noteworthy expertise and marketing capabilities under the Unlock Health platform.”
Phase 1 – Infrastructure Implementation
In collaboration with management, Corridor focused on enhancing human capital, processes and systems.
Human Capital: During the investment, Corridor supported the transition goals of Managing Partners Patti Winegar and Larry Margolis through the hiring of CEO Amanda Seaford and CFO / COO Joel Wilcoxen, both of whom have extensive experience in the advertising industry. Additionally, Corridor helped meaningfully expand the management team through key hires and repositions.
Processes and Systems: With Corridor’s support, Mr. Wilcoxen designed and implemented a modern finance function, including budgeting, dashboard reporting and financial controls, which enabled the successful migration to a traditional board meeting cadence and lender management capabilities. Additionally, the Company expanded its technology operations, including the hiring of a CTO and investment in a technology team.
Phase 2 – Organic and Acquisition-Based Growth
Acquisition-Based Growth: Corridor facilitated a strategic assessment of the healthcare marketing sector, with particular focus on service capabilities and end-market expansion resulting in a prioritized acquisition plan. On behalf of the SPM Group, and in collaboration and support from Company management, Corridor completed three add-on acquisitions, driving the entry into multiple end markets (including behavioral health, senior living centers, health associations, health insurers, and dental clinics), and expansion of service offerings (including digital capabilities such as enterprise web development and performance and content marketing), yielding increased cross-selling opportunities and market share in certain end markets and valuable human capital additions. The Corridor Operations & Advisory Group worked closely with management to integrate the acquired businesses.
Organic Growth: As a result of investing in a proactive selling infrastructure and integrated brand, SPM Group materially improved its new business win rate. Additionally, Corridor repositioned a senior leader to optimize cross-selling among key clients, yielding seven figures of incremental annual revenue.
Corridor believes that implementing its two-phase model assisted in transforming the Company into a scalable enterprise, well-positioned for sustainable long-term growth.
Canaccord Genuity served as the Company’s financial advisor and Morgan Lewis & Bockius provided legal services for the transaction. Kroll supported the process with accounting services. Lockton Companies provided insurance services.
