Happy Fri-yay, Hubsters! Aaron here to close out the week. I can’t believe there are only three Fridays left in 2022. Speaking of the new year, a popular resolution is to work out and get in shape. We’ll take a look at deals that leveraged physical fitness in 2022, below. But first, let’s talk about my preferred topic and sector, healthcare. I am going to catch you up on some healthcare deals that took place this week. Then, we will take a trip down memory lane as I reintroduce some of my favorite stories I wrote this past year – in case you missed them. Healthcare heartbeat. Deal activity may be moving at a snail’s pace, but there are still healthcare deals trickling out. Here are a few that caught my eye this week. *Ascend Capital Partners invested in Medical Specialists of the Palm Beaches, a physician group practice based in Lake Worth, Florida. The capital infusion will be used by MSPB to expand its footprint and value-based care offerings, enhance patient education efforts and invest in additional clinical specialty services to serve additional patients. *Align Capital Partners recapitalized Premier Biotech, a provider of point-of-care drugs of abuse testing products and laboratory services. ACP’s investment in Premier Biotech is expected to help drive continued R&D and support growth. “Premier has grown to become a niche leader in the point-of-care drug testing market by developing a differentiated, tech-enabled offering with a clear value proposition for its customers,” said Rob Langley, managing partner, ACP. “We see the post-covid normalization of self-testing and oral testing as a tailwind for the industry, and believe the company is poised to benefit with their highly effective and easy-to-use products.” *ZCG acquired Unimed, a Staten Island, New York-based provider of pharmaceutical and medical solutions to the maritime industry. Unimed serves approximately 10,000 ships per year from 10 worldwide offices and access to over 2,000 ports. Under the ownership of the ZCG affiliates, Unimed will expand into the global areas of marine markets, including super yachts, yacht management companies and manufacturers. ICYMI. As the year draws to a close, it’s a good moment to resurface some of PE Hub’s past content. One of my favorite articles I wrote this year detailed Francisco Partners’ exit of Capsule Technologies, a provider of patient monitoring and medical device integration at health facilities. FP sold Capsule last year to Royal Philips for $635 million, generating a 233 percent gross IRR and fetched roughly a 11.9x gross MOIC, according to sources familiar with the deal. FP’s exit of Capsule won Buyouts’ overall Deal of the Year, as well as Mid-Market Deal of the Year. The investment sticks in the mind of deal team leader and partner Chris Adams for a reason beyond financial performance. The company, which FP acquired in 2019, also quickly transitioned to developing its technology to help medical professionals remotely monitor covid patients on ventilators without having to make close contact. You can read the whole story here. Back to the gym. This week, Iris Dorbian wrote that the fitness and weight loss space saw a sizable infusion of private equity cash, as many people abandoned the at-home exercise equipment they purchased early in the lockdowns in favor of going back to the gym. Iris highlighted six recent deals in the sector. For example, in April, Olympus Partners got industry tongues wagging when it acquired Austin-based Excel Fitness Holdings, a Planet Fitness franchisee from Altamont Capital Partners, for an undisclosed sum. The target company’s breakout potential and expansion were baits for Olympus, which lauded Excel for “marrying the proven Planet Fitness concept with exceptional customer service and operational excellence,” noted Principal Matt Boyd. PE Hub expects that deal volume in this area will continue to be robust in 2023. To read about the other deals Iris covered, see the whole story here. That’s all for today. MK Flynn will be with you on Monday. Happy weekend to all! Cheers, Aaron Read thefull wire commentaryon PE Hub … | 