Florac

Company

The Stepping Stones Group (“SSG”) is a provider of therapy and education solutions to children with special needs and autism. The Company provides services to over 1,000 school districts and 200,000 children across 42 states.

SSG is one of the industry’s leading players in providing educational services to children with special needs. The Company’s main clients include school districts seeking outsourced therapists to provide in-school care to students. Its services are also offered at home and in other educational or clinical settings. Today, SSG offers a suite of clinical solutions including Speech Language Pathology (SLP) and Occupational Therapy (OT) services with an increasing focus on School Psychology, Special Education Teaching, and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA).

The outsourced, third-party clinician staffing model that the Company offers its customers enables them to efficiently and adequately respond to their constantly changing special education needs, amidst a backdrop of rising special needs student populations.

Investment

In December 2017, SSG was acquired by Five Arrows Capital Partners, the North American corporate private equity business of Rothschild Merchant Banking, the investment arm of Rothschild & Co. In April 2018, Florac invested in the business alongside FACP and other investors.

Key Achievements

Between 2018 and 2021, SSG strengthened its leadership team, streamlined sales and recruiting processes, developed professionalized back-end capabilities, expanded the digital marketing functions, and built a premier technology platform that was integrated across all operating divisions. The Company’s proprietary technology platform is highly customized to meet the unique needs of school districts and behavioral health clinicians.

Over that period, the Company also completed nine acquisitions, adding to its track record of successful M&A operations. In March of 2021, SSG acquired EBS Healthcare (“EBS”), a Pennsylvania-based provider of special education and therapy services in school, home and clinical settings. At acquisition, the target served more than 250 school district clients and operated 12 clinic locations, adding significant scale to the overall business. As part of the larger SSG platform, EBS will be able to empower even more students, schools, therapists, and parents.

In December 2021, SSG was sold to Leonard Green & Partners. Under its new ownership, SSG will continue to broaden its footprint and deliver best-in-class services to even more students. Through further organic growth and strategic tuck-in acquisitions in core and adjacent verticals, SSG is ideally placed to meet the growing needs of the market, making it a provider of choice for school districts across the country.

Investment Date

April 2018

Disvestment Date

December 2021

Sector

Healthcare Services

Investment Type

Minority Investment

Headquarters

Chicago, IL, USA