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

  • Aug 2020
  • Healthcare
  • M&A: Sell-Side
  • US
  • ACQUISITION

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.


Share this page

  • WE ARE Unrelenting Advocates

    We fight in your corner. But we don't stop there. We'll be with you for the long-haul, as your business grows, acquires and sells.
  • "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."
    Maria Arizmendi, Founder, Progressive Behavioral Science

Key Transaction Team

Additional Insights

Stay up to date with our Newsletter