Goldman Sachs, Brightstar, Health Wave target senior care; Sustainability trends incentivize Apax’s €1.5bn medical packaging deal
Morning Hubsters,
Happy Fri-yay! John R Fischer here in the New York newsroom, ready to bring you today’s US Wire.
Supply and demand gaps in senior care have created dealmaking opportunities in 2026. Investors such as Goldman Sachs, Brightstar and Health Wave are among the firms transacting in the segment. We’ll discuss this activity in my seven-deal listicle.
Medical packaging is in the spotlight in Friday Focus. Governments worldwide are passing regulations around sustainability. This creates demand for packaging that not only prioritizes patient safety but also has a lower environmental impact. We’ll look at a €1.5 billion acquisition by Apax Partners for two assets that fit that trend.
Sustained demand
The first of the baby boomers turn 80 in 2026, an event expected to generate substantial growth in senior care service demand. From housing development to nutritional services, private equity sees opportunities to address the supply and demand discrepancy in the sector. Financial pressures are also driving strategic divestitures and operator exits, further ripening the market for consolidation.
I rounded up seven closed deals dating back to the beginning of 2026. Here are three of the most recent:
Earlier in July, Health Wave Partners announced the acquisition of Alamar Senior Living, an assisted living and memory care community in Wellington, Florida. The sellers were Walton Street Capital and Scarp Ridge Capital Partners.
The community includes chef-prepared dining, a fitness center, a movie theater, a beauty salon, a dog park and a secure memory care courtyard. Alamar is managed by AgeWell Senior Living, a senior living management organization in Florida.
In June, Brightstar Capital Partners announced the purchase of Erdman, an architecture and engineering firm specializing in senior living and other healthcare facilities. The seller was Lubar & Co, which acquired the company in 2012.
Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Erdman has over seven decades of designing senior living communities, hospitals and medical office buildings nationwide and has active licenses in over 45 states. The firm has also developed ZeroIn, a proprietary healthcare analytics platform for data-driven market and facility planning.
“The 80-and-over population is projected to roughly double over the next two decades, driving sustained demand for exactly the types of facilities Erdman designs,” said Dan Faust, CEO of Brightstar’s architecture and design platform, in a statement. “We believe Erdman is well-positioned to serve that demand.”
As part of the deal, Erdman will be an add-on of KZF Design, a multidisciplinary architecture, engineering and design company that Brightstar acquired in 2025.
“Erdman brings sector depth, a national footprint and a proprietary analytics capability that we believe strengthens the platform,” said Michael Burke, board chair of Brightstar’s architecture and design platform, in a statement.
Also in June, Hidden River Strategic Capital announced an investment in Northstar Senior Living, a senior living management platform operating out of Redding, California.
The company provides management services to assisted living, memory care and independent living communities under long-term contracts with community owners.
Northstar is merging with Alta Senior Living, which offers a complementary portfolio of communities and is based in North Palm Beach, Florida. The combined company will operate as Northstar Senior Living.
Hidden River’s investment, which was made up of debt and convertible preferred equity, supports the merger through the integration of operations, investments in technology and operating system upgrades, geographic expansions and additional growth opportunities in the senior living management sector.
“Northstar represents the type of business Hidden River seeks to support: a differentiated company with a durable, recurring model and meaningful opportunities for growth,” said Steve Gord, partner at Hidden River Strategic Capital, in a statement.
Beyond the completed deals in our listicle, more are coming. Earlier in July, Frazier Healthcare Partners announced an agreement to acquire MatrixCare, a cloud-based EHR software provider for senior and other non-hospital care settings. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Advent International announced in June an intent to acquire home care operator Japan Wellbeing from MBK Partners. The deal is Advent’s first in Japan and also expected to close in Q3. In May, Bain Capital announced an agreement to sell Australian aged care provider Estia Health to Stonepeak in a deal expected to close in late 2026.
Friday Focus
As countries aim to reduce environmental footprints, regulatory requirements around the use of recyclable materials in medical packaging are on the rise. At the same time, increased production of biologics and other pharmaceuticals require quality medical-grade packaging. To comply with both needs, pharmaceutical companies are turning to outsourced businesses specializing in sustainable medical packaging. This in turn is making these pharma service companies ripe for PE investment.
Earlier this week, Apax Partners announced an agreement to acquire Centor, an Ohio-based medical packaging firm from German medical packaging company Gerresheimer. It also will acquire Gerresheimer’s global primary packaging plastics (PPP) business, with both companies adding up to an enterprise value of €1.5 billion.
Along with the Centor site in Perrysburg, the transaction includes 15 other production sites for primary plastic packaging in nine countries.
Centor manufactures prescription containers, including liquid ovals and PET bottles from recycled resin. PPP provides bottles and containers from recycled polymers, as well as other accessories and medical devices.
“As an independent company backed by the Apax Funds, the business will have the capital to invest in capacity, innovation and US expansion, building on its global leadership in healthcare packaging,” said Mehmet Tar, principal at Apax, in a statement.
The sale of Centor is expected to close by the end of financial year 2026, while the sale of the PPP business is expected to follow suit in the first half of financial year 2027.
Well, that’s it for me. As always, if you have questions, comments or want to chat, drop me an email at john.fischer@pei.group.
Nina Lindholm will be back on Monday with the Europe Wire, while MK Flynn is on US duty.
Cheers,
John
