Ascend Capital Partners has acquired a majority stake in Unison Therapy Services, a Walnut Creek, California-based multi-specialty youth and family behavioral health provider.
Announced Jan. 9, the deal sees an in-home, in-school and in-center behavioral health provider centered in applied behavior analysis (ABA) trading hands between private equity firms. Ascend Capital Partners, a New York City-based health care private equity, acquired Unison Therapy Services from Ridgemont Equity Partners, who first invested in the company that would become Unison in 2019.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“This partnership is a pivotal milestone for Unison, positioning us to leverage Ascend’s clinical expertise, infrastructure and support in our next phase of growth,” Todd Ezrine, CEO at Unison Therapy Service, said in a news release.
Unison Therapy Services addresses special education needs across multiple therapeutic services, including speech therapy, behavioral health, psychology, and physical and occupational therapy. It seeks to address developmental and speech delays, autism, social and emotional developmental and behavioral challenges, according to the release. Unison was founded in 1989.
The company operates services through several different brands — ABRITE, Behavior Therapy Clinic, Comprehensive Autism Center, Family Support Center and SPG Therapy & Education. Between the brands, Unison Therapy Services operates in California and Colorado, according to its website.
After a slow 2023, autism deals were up last year, according to M&A advisory firm the Braff Group. The company projected roughly 35 deals in the autism space in 2024, compared to under 25 in 2023.
The macro-level private equity investment trends are essential to behavioral health because these investors are enormous players in the industry. Private equity accounted for approximately 60% of all behavioral health deals in recent years — and 90% of autism services deals.
