This May, MB2 closed on its largest acquisition to-date with Harmony Dental Partners, a 10 group practice located in Arizona, a state formerly untouched by MB2.
We were able to interview Jake Berry, Vice President of Business Development at MB2, to learn more about what this unique partnership means to MB2.
Learn more about this notable acquisition from an interview with Jake Berry:
Tell us what was notable about Harmony Dental Partners and what sets it apart from other groups?
Each office in the Harmony group is branded individually. The group practice space is widely represented by both branded, and non-branded, models. The fact that Harmony’s partner offices are non-branded is complementary to MB2’s approach of keeping all partner offices individualized. We always want the practice and it’s doctor owner to be a direct representative to their patient base, and we don’t ever want to insert MB2 between the doctor and the patients. Localized branding is true to our core principles, which added to the appeal of this deal.
What was unique about this partnership in particular?
There are a couple unique aspects of this deal. The first was the complexity behind it. Because Harmony Dental Partners grew very quickly through an acquisition strategy, MB2 needed to be able to understand the overall performance of the business, despite several of the practices having a short time frame under Harmony’s management. Additionally, the legal structure of this partnership was atypical due to Harmony’s structure and the laws of Arizona. Secondly, the Harmony management team joined MB2 in this transaction. This is the first partnership that we have entered in which we benefited from both doctor partners at the practice level, and a vested local management team with a proven track record of success.
What does this partnership mean in terms of growth for MB2?
This partnership opens up a brand-new market for MB2. Any new market we enter adds significant value to MB2 since it expands our network effect. Phoenix, in particular, is one of the fastest growing markets in the country, so establishing a presence here with a strong local operator gives us the ability to rapidly expand in Arizona. It’s important to note that growing in a competitive market, like Phoenix, without a local leadership presence is challenging, so the addition of Harmony’s management team gives MB2 an added edge to drive future growth there.
It’s been a busy year for the team members at MB2. What does a partnership like Harmony Dental Partners mean for MB2 in the future?
The Harmony deal signals that we are willing and able to engage in larger partnerships than we have historically done. Now that we do not have capital constraints, MB2 can be much more aggressive in seeking larger deals that are accretive to the organization. The successful transaction with Harmony also is a direct reflection of all of MB2’s centralized services departments being able to integrate and support a large deal like this.
So, what’s next for MB2? Will you be expanding into other new states?
We have added three new states to MB2 since bringing on a capital partner. Our growth into new markets is an endorsement of MB2, and indicative of the fact that our partnership model really resonates with entrepreneurial dentists. We will continue to expand into several new states in 2019 such as Missouri and Washington, but adding Arizona to our portfolio is especially awesome since it is contiguous expansion from states like Colorado and New Mexico that we’re currently in.
Keep a lookout for more to come from MB2 in 2019 as we continue to empower and invest in dentists across the nation.
Interested in joining our growing team? Shoot us an email at hr@mb2dental.com!
