Private equity firm GTCR has signed an agreement to sell GreatCall, a health IT company, to Best Buy for $800 million in cash. The deal is anticipated to close in the third quarter of this year.
Based in San Diego, GreatCall provides health products and personal emergency response services (PERS) to seniors. Its offerings include wearables, health and safety apps, medical alert devices and the “Jitterbug” phones. The company also allows consumers to connect with agents who can dispatch emergency personnel, connect them with caregivers and answer their questions.
Back in 2015, GreatCall snapped up Lively, a maker of a home health platform for seniors. In 2016, it acquired Healthsense, a home monitoring startup that places wireless sensors in living spaces to monitor patients at home and in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities.
A little more than a year ago, Chicago-based GTCR announced that it bought GreatCall. The transaction amount was not disclosed.
In a phone interview, Dean Mihas, managing director at GTCR, explained his firm’s strategy behind the 2017 acquisition.
“We identified this industry segment some time ago as an attractive growing area,” he said. “When the opportunity came to acquire the clear industry leader, we moved very quickly and aggressively.”
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But now, GTCR has decided to sell the San Diego business to a well-known consumer electronics company.
“Best Buy approached us over the last three to six months and was pretty excited about how well this fit with what they were trying to do,” Mihas said. “They were very persistent and really liked the company.”
The Richfield, Minnesota-based company’s interest isn’t too surprising. Earlier this year, a CNBC article pointed out that Best Buy was looking at opportunities to make moves in healthcare.
During a May earnings call, Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly said his company was “exploring the health space with a focus on older Americans, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the call. “One thing as we’ve talked about is how technology can help people stay in their home for longer,” he added.
The acquisition of GreatCall seems to fit perfectly into what Best Buy has revealed of its healthcare-focused strategy.
As for GTCR, Mihas said turning GreatCall over to another company so quickly wasn’t the initial plan.
“Obviously we didn’t go into the investment a year ago thinking we were going to exit early like this,” he said. “But we happened to find a strategic buyer.”
Photo: maxsattana, Getty Images
