The Braff Group Awarded Health Care Deal of the Year
for the Fourth Time
Pittsburgh, PA, December 17, 2009 — At a sold out black tie event sponsored by the M&A Advisor held December 14th at the New York Athletic Club, The Braff Group was awarded the Health Care Deal of the Year for its representation of Freedom Eldercare, Hackensack, NJ, in its acquisition by Webster Capital, a private equity group based in Waltham, MA, with a focus in home health care and senior services. Freedom is one of the largest, stand-alone private home care providers in the country. Steve Braff, Managing Director for Home Health and Hospice, headed up the deal team representing Freedom.
This is the fourth time The Braff Group has been so honored, having also won Health Care Deal of the Year in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
“The award winners represent the best of the M&A industry in 2009 and earned these honors by standing out in a group of very impressive finalists,” said Roger Aguinaldo, CEO of The M&A Advisor. “Each winner should take pride in their award and the message it sends about the resilience of our industry.” The M&A Awards Gala honored deal-teams, deal-makers, and firms whose activities set the standard for the industry. This year, 170 finalists in 34 categories were chosen. An independent body of experts that span the M&A industry determined the ultimate recipients of the awards.
Commenting on The Braff Group’s representation of Freedom Eldercare, Steven Nerayoff, former president and founder of the company said “Steve Braff spent the time to truly understand our goals as a company and my goals as an individual. He took the time to develop a strong knowledge of our company's strengths, marketplace and prospects for growth. On a personal level, he heard what was important to me and my family. In fact, it was Steve who several times advised us not to present ourselves to the market as there were business opportunities to be seized and personal objectives to be gained by waiting.”
Regarding the significance of the transaction, Braff said that “this deal was particularly noteworthy to the private pay home care industry. Not only was it a high profile transaction involving a sizeable, well-known company, but it was also completed by a private equity firm, which may have been one of the first investments of its kind in a non-franchise organization. Accordingly, in many respects, the deal sent a clear signal to the marketplace regarding the up-side potential of private home care, a market niche that has heretofore been overshadowed by Medicare home health.”
In all, The Braff Group was a five-time finalist in three different categories. In addition to Freedom Eldercare, two other Braff Group transactions were finalists for Health Care Deal of the Year -- the firm’s representation of Rx Solutions, Chicago, IL in its divestiture to Walgreens, Deerfield, IL, and its representation of Air Products, Allentown, PA in its divestitures of nine home medical equipment locations in multiple transactions. Steve Braff was a finalist for Dealmaker of the Year. Finally, The Braff Group was a finalist for Boutique Investment Banking firm of the Year.
About The Braff Group
The Braff Group is the leading investment banking firm specializing in the home health care, hospice, infusion therapy, specialty pharmacy, health care staffing, and home medical equipment market sectors. The firm provides an array of transactional advisory services including sell side representation, debt and equity recapitalizations, strategic planning, and valuation. Since being founded in 1998, The Braff Group has completed more than 150 transactions.
About the M&A Advisor
Since 1998, The M&A Advisor has been connecting professionals in the mergers and acquisitions, distressed investing and related financial industries through its leading conferences and awards galas, M&A Alerts newsletter and online community.
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