A private equity firm has bought a significant stake in ExactCare Pharmacy—one of the fastest-growing companies in northeast Ohio.
Nautic Partners of Rhode Island bought shares from CEO Dale Wollschleger and Primus Capital of Mayfield Heights, Ohio, which acquired a minority stake in ExactCare two years ago.
ExactCare was looking for an investor who could help the closed-door pharmacy grow faster, Wollschleger said, adding that he wanted to keep up with the rest of the pharmacy industry, which is going through a wave of consolidation.
“We are going to be hiring quite a few employees,” he said, noting that many of them will be pharmacy technicians.
Wollschleger founded ExactCare in 2009. Seven years later, the Valley View, Ohio-based company has about 300 employees. It generated about $98 million in revenue in 2014, up from $50 million in 2013. The figure for 2015 is “quite a bit” higher, Wollschleger said.
ExactCare is best known for the ExactPack—a box of medication customized for a particular person. Inside each box is a long strip of plastic packages containing pills in the order that they are to be taken.
Company employees also conduct in-person assessments with patients in 10 states. But ExactCare aims to serve patients across the nation. It is licensed in every state except California.
Nautic will play a key role in that expansion, according to a news release announcing the deal, which closed on Tuesday, March 15.
Wollschleger wouldn't say whether Nautic would help the company finance growth investments, but he noted that the firm has a lot of experience investing in healthcare and pharmacy-related companies.
As part of the deal, ExactCare has appointed two healthcare executives to its board: Doug Present, former CEO of Managed Health Care Associates of Florham Park, N.J., and Jim Smith, former CEO of QoL meds LLC of Pittsburgh. Present will serve as chairman.
Nautic managing director Chris Corey says that ExactCare “addresses the core of a very difficult problem in healthcare.”
“By helping patients stay compliant with their medications, ExactCare improves the quality of care to medically complex patients and lowers health care costs,” he stated in the news release.
