5 things to know about the private equity acquisition of Athenahealth

Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman have completed their acquisition of Athenahealth, the software company announced Tuesday.

Here are five things to know about the deal:

1. Hellman & Friedman purchased Athenahealth with Bain Capital Private Equity and Bain Capital Tech Opportunities. The private equity firms paid $17 billion to buy Athenahealth from its previous private equity owners, Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital.

2. Athenahealth’s prior owners retain minority stakes. New investors holding minority investments include an affiliate of GIC—Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund—and a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

3. Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital acquired Athenahealth in 2019 for $5.7 billion, more than a decade after the company went public. That deal followed an aggressive push by Evergreen Coast Capital’s parent company, hedge fund Elliott Management, to purchase the company. During that time, Athenahealth co-founder and then-CEO Jonathan Bush stepped down in 2018 after being accused of violence and sexual harassment.

4. Bob Segert will remain Athenahealth chairman and CEO. The company named him CEO in 2019 after Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital combined Athenahealth with Virence Health. The private equity firms had acquired Virence Health from GE Healthcare in 2018 while Segert was its chair and CEO.

5. Bush and Todd Park founded Athenahealth in 1997. Today, more than 140,000 ambulatory care providers use the company’s software, including its electronic health records, patient engagement tools and revenue-cycle management utilities, according to a news release. Bush now leads Zus Health, another company he started. Park, the U.S. chief technology officer under President Barack Obama, went on to co-found Castlight Health and Devoted Health.