Smile Partners USA (“Smile Partners” or the “company”), a portfolio company of Silver Oak Services Partners LLC (“Silver Oak”), announced today a strategic investment from a new continuation fund. The continuation fund, managed by Silver Oak, is anchored by commitments from funds managed by BlackRock Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions (“BlackRock”) and Hollyport Capital, with additional support from new and existing investors.
Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Troy, Michigan, Smile Partners is a national dental support organization with over 100 offices across five distinct markets. Since Silver Oak first invested in 2017, Smile Partners has completed 75+ affiliations, expanded to four new states, partnered with 80+ doctor-owners while maintaining strong doctor retention, and invested in a diverse set of organic growth initiatives to better serve patients and drive same-store sales growth. This transaction affirms the company’s sustained success and doctor-centric partnership model.
The Silver Oak General Partnership reinvested the entirety of its capital investment and proceeds realized from the transaction and committed additional new capital, given its continued conviction in Smile Partners. The company’s management team and base of doctor partners retained a significant ownership stake in the business, and the continuation fund includes a significant unfunded capital commitment to support the continued growth of Smile Partners.
“We are very excited to announce the closing of this new continuation fund,” said Dan Gill, managing partner of Silver Oak. “This transaction allows us to continue our partnership with Smile Partners and provides a significant liquidity event to our investors, doctor partners, and management team, in addition to new capital for continued growth. We are grateful for the support received from new blue-chip institutional investors, and we look forward to the continued success of Smile Partners.”
“We are thankful for the ongoing support from Silver Oak, as well as our new investors in BlackRock and Hollyport Capital,” added Dave Gaspar, CEO of Smile Partners. “This is a significant milestone for our doctor partners, our 1,000+ employees, and broader management team, and we look forward to continuing to deliver best-in-class patient care across our local communities.”
Jefferies served as the exclusive financial advisor for the transaction through the partnership of its Private Capital Advisory and Healthcare teams, with Kirkland & Ellis serving as Silver Oak’s legal counsel. Akin Gump acted as legal counsel for BlackRock and Hollyport Capital.
About Smile Partners
Smile Partners is a provider of general and specialty dentistry services across the Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Birmingham, and Denver metro markets. Our community dental practices are driven by a passion for our patients’ comfort and health and are connected through our core values of great patient experiences, quality outcomes, and commitment to our local communities. For more information on Smile Partners, please visit smilepartnersusa.com.
About Silver Oak Services Partners
Founded in 2005 and based in Evanston, IL, Silver Oak is a lower middle market private equity firm focused on partnering with exceptional management teams to build industry-leading business, consumer, and healthcare services companies. Silver Oak utilizes a proactive, research-led investment process to identify attractive services sectors and seek out high-quality management teams and investment opportunities. Silver Oak seeks to make control investments in leading service businesses. For more information, please visit silveroaksp.com.
About Hollyport Capital
Founded in 2006, Hollyport is a specialist secondary investor focused on capturing value in legacy private equity assets. With a focus on providing bespoke liquidity solutions to LPs and GPs, Hollyport’s alpha is its ability to uncover hidden value and resolve complex situations by facilitating a clear alignment of interest among all parties. Since inception, Hollyport has raised eight secondary funds and currently has over $5 billion of assets under management. Hollyport has a team of over 60 split between New York and London, where the firm is headquartered. More information is available at hollyportcapital.com.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDIT: Megan Rexazin Conde from Pixabay.
