Prairie Capital, a middle-market, Chicago-based private equity firm, is pleased to announce the successful sale of StatLab Medical Products (“StatLab” or the “Company”) from Prairie Capital IV (“Prairie”). This exit highlights Prairie’s investment strategy of partnering with founders and management teams to build market-leading companies in high-growth industries.
Prairie sold StatLab to Cressey & Company LP, a healthcare-focused private investment firm. StatLab is a leading developer and manufacturer of consumable diagnostic supplies for anatomic pathology laboratories. The Company’s products include those necessary for physicians to accurately diagnose and treat cancer. The Company sells to more than 3,000 physician and laboratory customers across the United States. StatLab, founded in 1976, was family owned and operated until Prairie’s investment in 2009. Daniel Henn and Michael Aubrey partnered with Prairie to acquire the Company and joined StatLab’s management team as Co-Presidents.
The Prairie investment thesis focused on a transformation of StatLab from a regionally-focused, value-added distributor, to a nationally-focused, vertically integrated manufacturer. The transformation required substantial company-building investments including: (i) hiring, training, and supporting a national sales force; (ii) custom building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility; (iii) strategically expanding the branded product offering; and (iv) providing the requisite human capital, information technology, finance, quality and regulatory resources to support growth. These investments, among others, enabled StatLab to more than double revenue and more than triple EBITDA during Prairie’s hold period.