Livingstone advises Progressive Behavioral Science on its sale to Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education

Livingstone is pleased to announce the firm’s healthcare team has advised Progressive Behavioral Science (“Progressive” or the “Company”) on its partnership with Cultivate Behavioral Health & Education (“Cultivate”), a portfolio company of Imperial Capital. Livingstone acted as exclusive financial advisor to Progressive.

Progressive is a clinician-led and leading independent provider of intensive Applied Behavioral Analysis (“ABA”) therapy to clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (“ASD”) in the South Florida market. The Company primarily provides in-home therapy services as well as supplemental center-based services, including social skills groups, summer camps, and day programs. Progressive has been deeply embedded in special needs advocacy and the South Florida community for over a decade.

The prevalence of ASD has increased dramatically, most recently by nearly 10%, to 1 in 54 children in the U.S. Increasing awareness and prevalence have driven significant demand for high-quality care.

“We are thrilled to partner with Cultivate to expedite the Company’s growth and strengthen Progressive’s position in our community, bringing our culture of excellence and client and clinician-centered approach to more children and families in need,” stated Maria Arizmendi, Founder of Progressive. “Livingstone’s experience in the sector was instrumental in educating and preparing us for a sale process. The Livingstone team provided our lean, clinician-led business the resources and support that allowed us to focus on the needs of our clients and therapists during these unprecedented times.”

“We worked hand-in-hand with Maria to understand the unique characteristics and best position the opportunities of Progressive while designing a process to maintain momentum through to a close during a very challenging macro environment,” said Jim Moskal, Partner at Livingstone. “Positioning the positive attributes and growth opportunities remains critical for small, rapidly-growing providers to realize value for recent investment, growth, and expected future performance, particularly when considering a transaction in the current market environment broadly impacted by COVID-19.”

“Progressive is an excellent example highlighting the value Livingstone provides its clients, most notably entrepreneur-owned and family-owned businesses,” added Mark Carl, Director at Livingstone. “Our niche sector expertise, real-time market insight, experienced resources, data-driven strategic analysis, and flexible, creative deal-making approach yielded an outstanding outcome for all parties.”

Progressive represents Livingstone’s third recent, successful transaction in the Behavioral Health sector, following the sales of Total Spectrum, a leading ABA therapy provider, to LEARN Behavioral and Broadstep Behavioral Health, a leading provider of services to individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities, to Bain Capital’s Double Impact fund. This most recent transaction marks Livingstone’s 20th healthcare transaction since 2018.