AdaptHealth to become public company

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa. - AdaptHealth Holdings, an HME provider formerly known as QMES, will combine with DFB Healthcare Acquisitions Corp. and become a public company.

Upon closing, DFB, a company sponsored by Deerfield Management and Richard Barasch, will change its name to AdaptHealth Holding Corp. and will remain listed on the NASDAQ under a new ticker symbol.

Together, the two companies will represent an enterprise value of about $1 billion and a market capitalization of about $800 million.

As part of the deal, Adapt's management and major equity holders will roll their equity into the new company and the proceeds from that will be used to reduce debt and fund future growth and acquisitions.

Adapt has identified a significant volume of potential acquisition opportunities it will target in late 2019 and early 2020. Since 2012, the company has acquired 56 companies with an aggregate purchase price of $286 million.

“We expect to remain an active participant in the consolidation of our industry, while adhering to our core principles of providing tailored healthcare products and services that empower patients to live their best lives,” said Luke McGee, CEO of Adapt. “We look forward to this next, exciting phase of our growth.”

Adapt's current management team, including McGee, will remain in place, supplemented by Barasch as newly appointed chairman of the company. Barasch was chairman and CEO of Universal American, an NYSE-listed health insurance and healthcare services company until its sale to WellCare Health Plans in 2017.

Adapt, which serves more than 1 million patients and performs 7,000 deliveries per day across 49 states through more than 150 locations, posted net revenues of $174.2 million in 2016. They will grow to an estimated $521.8 million in 2019.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2019.