Archive for category: Firm Announcements

MIAMI – April 7, 2026 – Cassel Salpeter & Co. (“Cassel Salpeter”), an independent investment banking firm that provides advisory services to middle-market and emerging growth companies in the United States and worldwide, announced that it served as financial advisor to Coral Terrace Hospital, LLC in its acquisition of Westchester General Hospital, Inc., doing business as Keralty Hospital, from Sanitas USA, Inc. The transaction included the acquisition of the hospital and associated land in Miami, Fla.

Westchester General Hospital, located in Miami, Fla., is a community-based acute care hospital providing a comprehensive range of medical services, including emergency care, surgical services, and specialized treatment programs. Serving the South Florida community for decades, the hospital has built a strong reputation for accessible, patient-centered care.

Cassel Salpeter acted as investment banker to Coral Terrace Hospital, LLC, throughout a multi-year process, supporting the evaluation, structuring, and execution of the transaction.

“We are proud to have guided this hospital full-circle, having advised on its sale in 2020 and now supporting its acquisition by Coral Terrace Hospital,” said Cassel Salpeter Chairman James Cassel. “This transaction preserves a vital community hospital that has long been a heartbeat in South Florida. By acquiring both the operations and the associated property, Coral Terrace Hospital gains flexibility to grow in the healthcare market, while ensuring the hospital’s legacy continues to serve the local community for years to come.”

The Cassel Salpeter deal team was led by Chairman James S. Cassel and Director Laura Salpeter, with assistance from Senior Associate Edward Kropf.

The Coral Terrace Hospital team was led by Principals Ben Philipson and Leo Friedman.

The Sanitas team was led by Global Chief Executive Officer Sergio Martinez, Hospital Chief Executive Officer Juan Carlos Echandia Bautista, Chief Legal Counsel Guillermo De Lorenzo, and General Counsel Adriana Rivera-Montoya.

The Garfunkel Wild team, counsel to Coral Terrace, was led by Partners Andrew Schulson and Susan St. John.

The Greenberg Traurig team, counsel to Sanitas, was led by Shareholders Carol Barnhart and Anthony Fernandez.

About Cassel Salpeter & Co.:

Cassel Salpeter & Co. LLC is an independent investment banking firm providing advice to middle market and emerging growth companies in the United States and worldwide. The firm’s professionals have more than 150 years of combined experience advising private and public companies on a broad range of investment banking and financial advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions; equity and debt capital raises; fairness and solvency opinions; valuations; and restructurings, including 363 sales and plans of reorganization.

Cofounded by James S. Cassel and Scott Salpeter, the firm provides objective, unbiased, results-focused services grounded in rigorous analysis and transaction-specific insight aligned with each client’s objectives. The firm’s partners are personally involved at every stage of each engagement and have built long-standing relationships and completed hundreds of transactions and assignments nationwide.

The firm’s headquarters are in Miami. Member FINRA and SIPC. More information is available at www.casselsalpeter.com.

Editor’s note: Interviews available upon request.

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Roar Media
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MIAMI – August 26, 2025 – The special situations practice group of Cassel Salpeter & Co. (“Cassel Salpeter”), an independent investment banking firm that provides advisory services to middle market and emerging growth companies in the United States and worldwide, announced that it has successfully assisted in facilitating the reorganization of Enviroscent, Inc. (“Enviroscent”), an eco-friendly air freshener company, through a plan of reorganization under a  Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Enviroscent develops and manufactures eco-friendly branded and private label air freshening products sold to consumers via omnichannel and subscription-based offerings. Enviroscent’s patented technology enables the consistent distribution of fragrance without the use of toxic chemicals.

Enviroscent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2024 and Cassel Salpeter was engaged by the Debtor to assist in exploring strategic alternatives. Ultimately, the best outcome for the estate was filing a plan of reorganization which allows the company to continue operations, restructure its balance sheet, and return to its former growth trajectory via distribution and licensing opportunities and products under development.

The Cassel Salpeter team was led by Managing Director Philip Cassel, with the assistance of Director Laura Salpeter and Senior Associate Edward Kropf.

The Enviroscent team was led by CEO Kevin Coen with the assistance of CFO Yogi Pai. Cameron McCord of Jones & Walden LLC served as counsel for the debtor.

MIAMI – March 21, 2025– Cassel Salpeter & Co. (“Cassel Salpeter”), an independent investment banking firm that provides advisory services to middle market and emerging growth companies in the United States and worldwide, announced that it has successfully facilitated the sale of Sunbelt Medical Financial LLC (“Sunbelt Health”), a provider of outsourced healthcare receivables management and revenue cycle management (“RCM”) services, to Unified Health Services, L.L.C. (“UHS”), a portfolio company of Reynolda Equity Partners (“Reynolda”).

Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Sunbelt Health is a specialty healthcare receivables management company with more than 30 years of experience in collecting complex and international claims on behalf of its healthcare provider clients. The company works with hospitals, clinics, physicians, and health systems to facilitate and expedite payments from both third-party payors and self-pay patients.

Based in Memphis, Tenn., UHS provides end-to-end RCM services to hospitals, surgery centers, and health systems. The company specializes in managing workers’ compensation claims and offers solutions that enhance workflows, eliminate inefficiencies, and maximize reimbursement from complex claims.

“We’re thrilled to have successfully facilitated this strategic transaction between Sunbelt Health and UHS,” said Cassel Salpeter Chairman James Cassel. “The complementary strengths of both organizations create a compelling opportunity in the complex claims management space. This partnership positions the combined entity for enhanced growth and expanded service capabilities, delivering greater value to healthcare providers and the complex claims management industry.”

“We are delighted to see Sunbelt Health become a part of the UHS and Reynolda family of companies because of both the strong cultural and strategic fit between the organizations. We were impressed by the depth and breadth of the buyers’ due diligence and benefited greatly from the support of the Cassel Salpeter team throughout the process,” said previous owner, Jon Gordon of Palladian Capital Partners.

“We are looking forward to working together with UHS. This partnership marks an important new chapter for Sunbelt Health, allowing us to combine our deep expertise in international health claims resolution with UHS’s industry-leading capabilities in workers’ compensation health claims. Together, we will enhance our ability to provide comprehensive complex receivables management solutions to our clients, while continuing our commitment to excellence in service and innovation. We also extend our sincere appreciation to our investment banking partner, Cassel Salpeter, whose guidance and expertise have been instrumental in facilitating this exciting new chapter for Sunbelt Health” said David Agarth, CEO of Sunbelt Health.

Cassel led the Cassel Salpeter team with the assistance of Senior Associate Edward Kropf, Analyst Cody Evans, and external advisor Will Fleming of Chimney Trail Partners.

The Sunbelt Health team was led by Agarth, with assistance from Kenneth Esbin, Jessica Blake, Kathryn Cook, and Victor Mehra, and support from owner Gordon.

Edward Stevenson, Michelle Delaney, and Fady Shenouda of Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC, served as counsel for Sunbelt Health.

Michael Reece and Trey Hensley of UHS, along with Scott Snow and Cam Mulhall of Reynolda Equity Partners, served as the investment team.

Brian Mesibov, Seth Walker, Natalie Hilmandolar, John Evans, Whitney Engen, Alexis Roeber, and Emily Mann of Moore & Van Allen, served as counsel for the UHS and Reynolda team.

Thinking of doing a continuation fund? Let us help with the fairness or valuation opinion.

Cassel Salpeter is a market leader in providing fairness opinions and valuation opinions, including providing various fairness opinions and valuations in connection with a continuation fund. Our advisory services team provides high quality and defendable deliverables to executives, boards, committee members, PE funds and their GPs, to fund advisory committees, owners and other interested parties in a variety of contexts and situations and have issued over 225 fairness or solvency opinions on transactions ranging from simple acquisitions, related party transactions, and sales to highly complex transactions. In addition, our team has completed over 675 valuation assignments covering a broad range of valuation services and requirements.

What was once seen as a path for tradability for an underperforming or difficult-to-exit portfolio company because of poor timing, has now become an increasingly attractive way to manage and extend the profitability of a fund’s best performing portfolio companies, while giving the LPs a liquidity opportunity.

A continuation fund is an alternative to a more traditional exit which involves a private equity fund selling one or more portfolio companies to a newly formed continuation fund that is formed for the purpose of acquiring or retaining these companies to be managed by the same sponsor. This trend is attributable to several factors, including the slowdown in the M&A and IPO market (reducing traditional exit opportunities), lower valuations, and the rise in the average holding period of portfolio companies in the United States, which has increased to 6.4 years, up materially from 5.1 years in 2021, according to PitchBook.

A continuation fund can provide a liquidity event for the limited partner investors in the original fund, but also offers the ability to not sell at what the GP might believe is an inopportune time. The formation of a continuation fund enables sponsors to keep well performing investments with additional valuation potential, while providing time for underperforming investments to stabilize or increase in value before an exit and gives the limited partners the opportunity to either roll over their equity or the option to sell their interest.

The increase in these fund-level affiliate transactions, which is estimated to have more than doubled as a percentage of overall sponsor-backed exits from 2020 to 2023, from 5% to 12%, according to Jefferies’ Global Secondary Market Review, presents challenges related to potential conflicts of interest. Primarily, private equity firms sit on both sides (buy and sell) of the transaction. As continuation funds have grown in popularity over recent years, the path forward, strategy, legal requirements, and diligence have evolved alongside the growth. Cassel Salpeter can help navigate these nuances.

In 2023, the SEC and ILPA issued new rules and guidance with the purpose of increasing transparency and ensuring processes are in place to limit inherent conflicts of interest. These mitigation methods include a requirement that a fairness or valuation opinion be obtained in connection with GP-led continuation fund transactions.

A fairness opinion is often considered the preferred financial opinion standard because it directly addresses the consideration to be received by a specific selling party (or to be paid by a specific buying party) in a transaction. A valuation opinion is conducted with a similar process and level of rigor as a fairness opinion but affords additional flexibility as to the securities or asset(s) addressed by such valuation conclusions.

Under the new regulations, these opinions are now required to be part of the corporate governance utilized in continuation fund transactions. By standardizing the use of valuation and fairness opinions, these regulations not only bolster investor confidence, but also promote ethical conduct within the industry. These consistent and transparent procedures facilitate the protection for both general and limited partners.

Cassel Salpeter monitors changing regulations and remains current with guidance and best practices recommended and used by the industry. We pride ourselves for understanding and respecting the process and specific needs of each client and situation. We are here to help. Contact our team members if you have any questions or if we can assist you in the process.

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