Apax Partners in talks to buy One Call Care Management for around $2 bn: report

Private equity firm Apax Partners is in advanced talks to buy medical cost containment services company One Call Care Management Inc (OCCM) from Odyssey Investment Partners, for more than $2 billion, Reuters yesterday reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Apax beat rival bidders such as Carlyle Group, Hellman & Friedman, and a consortium comprising of Silver Lake and Berkshire Partners,  in the auction for OCCM, the report said.

Under the proposed deal, Apax would pay between $2.2 - $2.3 billion for OCCM, and separately buy Align Networks, a workers' compensation claims company, and merge it with OCCM, the report added.

New York-based private equity firm Odyssey Investment, which had acquired OCCM in 2009, had in July hired Jefferies Group to handle the sale of OCCM.

Founded in 1993 and based in New Jersey, OCCM manages workers' compensation claims by providing connections to diagnostic radiology and neurodiagnostics providers in the US.

It develops and manages diagnostic scheduling networks for the workers' compensation, group health, and auto insurance industries to provide diagnostic radiology and neurodiagnostic procedures.

OCCM processes over 450,000 diagnostic referrals, 600,000 transportation referrals, and over 7500 dental referrals a year making it one of the nation's largest providers of specialty provider services to the workers' compensation industry.

Under Odyssey's ownership, OCCM acquired Florida-based STOPS in 2010 in order to expand its diagnostic business in the Northeast and expanded its diagnostic business in the Midwest through the 2011 acquisition of Diagnostics Plus.

In 2012, it acquired MSC Care Management for $530 million and Harbor Health for an undisclosed sum.