Waud Capital Partners: From 1993 Startup to $4.6 Billion Home Care Consolidator

The April 2025 announcement of MedTec Healthcare’s acquisition by Altocare represents more than another private equity transaction. For Reeve Waud, founder and Managing Partner of Waud Capital Partners, this deal caps a three-decade journey from a one-person operation in Lake Forest, Illinois to commanding a healthcare investment empire worth approximately $4.6 billion.

MedTec’s acquisition through Waud’s newly formed Altocare holding company demonstrates the maturation of an investment philosophy that began when Waud established his firm in 1993 at age 29. What started as a self-funded venture has become a healthcare consolidation machine, completing more than 480 investments while building multiple billion-dollar platforms.

The Foundation Years: Learning Healthcare Consolidation

Waud Capital Partners began modestly, with limited resources but clear vision. After gaining experience at GTCR and Salomon Brothers, Reeve Waud recognized healthcare’s combination of essential services, fragmented providers, and complex regulations created natural consolidation opportunity.

By 1998, the firm raised its first institutional fund, marking the transition from personal investment to professional private equity management. Healthcare emerged as a focal point for Waud’s investment thesis during these early years, though the sophisticated platform-building approach would come later.

Acadia Healthcare: The Blueprint That Changed Everything

Waud’s 2005 founding of Acadia Healthcare established the template for his subsequent healthcare investments. Starting as a behavioral health platform, Acadia grew through acquisitions and organic expansion into one of the nation’s largest psychiatric hospital systems. Within six years, Acadia had scaled sufficiently to complete a successful IPO in 2011.

Acadia Healthcare’s trajectory from Waud-backed startup to publicly traded company worth billions exemplified his ability to build and scale businesses in targeted healthcare sectors. Reeve Waud continues serving as Chairman of Acadia’s board, reflecting his foundational role in the company’s development.

Scaling the Buy-and-Build Strategy

The success of Acadia Healthcare provided Waud Capital Partners with both credibility and capital to pursue larger opportunities. Subsequent investments like GI Alliance demonstrated the firm’s ability to replicate the consolidation model across different healthcare specialties. GI Alliance’s 2022 sale to Apollo Global Management at a $2.2 billion valuation proved the sustainability of Waud’s approach.

Each platform investment reinforced Waud’s methodology: identify fragmented healthcare markets, recruit experienced management teams, provide growth capital, and execute strategic acquisitions. This disciplined approach has generated average revenue growth of 400%+ for realized investments under the firm’s ownership.

The Home Care Consolidation Thesis

Waud Capital Partners’ formation of Altocare reflects the founder’s identification of home care as healthcare’s next major consolidation opportunity. The acquisition of Senior Helpers in March 2024 provided the initial platform, while MedTec Healthcare’s addition creates complementary service lines and geographic expansion.

MedTec’s specialized focus on culturally tailored in-home care services and adult day centers complements Senior Helpers’ national franchise network of over 380 locations. Steve Jakubcanin’s appointment as Altocare Executive Chairman brings two decades of healthcare operating experience to the platform’s leadership.

The combination creates immediate scale while establishing diversified revenue streams—a more sophisticated approach than Waud’s earlier single-service investments. This structure provides multiple growth avenues and balanced payer mix, serving both private-pay and Medicaid-supported clients across different care settings.

After three decades of healthcare investment, Reeve Waud continues building platforms that address critical needs while generating substantial returns. The Altocare expansion suggests his healthcare consolidation journey remains far from complete.

Read: Waud Capital unveils latest growth-oriented buyout fund, targets $1bn