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Whether home-based care providers are actively trying to sell their business or leaning on opportunities when it arises, leaders position their organization as an attractive acquisition target and identify the right moments for sale.
Two recent home care transactions – Bright Star Care and Family Tree Private Care – exemplify this.
Shelly Sun Berkowitz, founder of Brightstar Care, was the first to decide to step down from the full-time CEO role in 2023. She revealed the personal reasons behind the move.
“My twin boys are ready to go to college and one of my (sons) is autistic,” she told Home Healthcare News. “During Covid, I really had to move ahead in business in more ways than myself and my kids because it was open 24/7 and the lives of the elderly were in danger. As a mom, I felt it was necessary so I did it once.
Based in Chicagoland, Bright Star Care offers personal home care, supplemental staffing and home healthcare. There are over 400 franchise locations in the US
In 2024, Sun Berkowitz began the process of hiring investment bankers and finding the right partner for the expected role within the company.
“I wanted to continue to be strategically flexible, but I still attended industry events, participated in several operational projects for media, PR and my team, and entrusted me with 90% of my legwork.”
In March, Brightstar Care founder Shelly Sun Berkowitz told HHCN that while selling the company in December 2024, she decided to scrap the transaction and move in a different direction. She eventually signed a deal with Brightstar, which will be acquired by Peakrock affiliates earlier this year.
Sun Berkowitz noted that the agreement allowed them to focus on high-level operational strategies while competing with the daily details of running their business.
Companies who want to follow in the footsteps of Brightstar Care should prioritize achieving several key characteristics.
“There should be a positive trajectory of two to three years of growth in the top line and bottom line,” Saint Berkowitz said. “If you're a target buyer, there's a solid management team that private equity companies can quote to the bank, and they don't quote.”
Timing is also an important factor to consider when pulling a sales trigger.
“At the end of February, everyone is really optimistic and we feel blessed to be able to do our business without knowing what will happen with tariffs when things are in a more positive place than we are now.
Bullseye is the target of acquisition
As Mark Kulik, senior managing director of Braff Group, we can pretty much boil down to science when to sell your home care business.
“We think it's the best time for Bullseye to sell,” he told HHCN.
Braff Group is an M&A advisory company specializing in senior care trading.
To hit the bullseye means looking deeper into the company before bringing it to the market.
“Is the company in good condition?” Click said. “Do they perform at the marketplace norm level or have they been a little above? Have they been established in the market for a while?
It is also important that businesses identify the current cycle of life.
“At some point, most companies tend to be plateaus,” Kulik said. “They're going to have a trend towards declining growth that they've enjoyed over the years. We see that and say early on, they're trying to sell a company too early. You really don't capture the value of the business.
Kulik explained that the best time to sell your business is when it's outstripped the market. For example, if the market is growing at 10%, the business is growing at 15%, and it is increasing every year. This shows buyers that growth is on the rise in the future.
Kulik also emphasized the importance of paying attention to the red flag, which indicates that the business is not in a good position for sale.
“If for some reason your business is declining,” he said. “If the company is losing market share. If the home health and penetration in the (MA) market is growing, the company is unable to adjust its contracts and is putting pressure on profitability.
I'm leaning towards opportunities
Unlike BrightStar Care, the founders of the family tree were not initially trying to sell the company.
“We weren't going to do any kind of deal,” Family Tree CEO Daniel Gotzcirk told HHCN. “We've been very busy growing our family tree and we're buying ourselves, private care companies. But I've known David Jackson (CEO of Choice at Home CEO) for quite some time. He came close to me while he was chasing the same assets.
Founded in 2011, the family tree provides care, private nursing and care management services in Texas and Colorado.
Earlier this year, the company merged with home care company Choice Health from home.
“We're still doing what we're doing,” Gotzciak said. “We're part of a bigger platform. The reason it made sense to me back then was because they gave us the opportunity to raise our mission and take our family tree to the next level beyond private care. Before this merger, the choice did everything for this merger.
Today, the family tree continues to operate under the original brand that has the same leadership team.
The founder had no plans to sell family trees, but the company did a lot of things that would appeal to buyers in the long run. Gottschalk noted that the company's role as buyers gave leadership team models what a wealthy company should look like.
“We have always tried to run our family tree as a professional business that is extremely high quality, scalable, ready to take the next level on every turn,” says Gottschalk. “I think we can say that it means we're always ready to sell. That's not our intention. We weren't looking to sell it, but we always wanted to grow our business to reach the next level.
Ultimately, Gottschalk believes that companies that are constantly increasing their games have more options. This was a family tree strategy.
“We call it a culture of personal development. You're trying to get better every day,” he said. “That way of thinking means you're constantly innovating. You're coming up with new processes and improving the quality of your care to make the quality of your business the same in different regions.”
