EW Healthcare Partners Announces the Closing of EW Healthcare Partners Acquisition Fund with Bioventus as the Core Holding

Jan 20 2021

New York, NY –– EW Healthcare Partners (“EW”), a private equity firm dedicated to making growth equity investments in rapidly growing healthcare companies, announced the closing of EW Healthcare Partners Acquisition Fund (“EW-AF” or the “Fund”). The Fund was formed as a continuation fund to acquire the remaining investments of certain EW legacy funds with Bioventus, a leading orthobiologics company, as the core holding. Funds managed by BlackRock, a global asset manager and an existing investor in certain other EW funds, acted as the lead investor for the transaction, which was oversubscribed. No financial details about the transaction were released.

The transaction was structured in a manner that provided existing EW legacy fund limited partners the option of receiving liquidity or retaining exposure to the remaining legacy portfolio by reinvesting in EW-AF. The Fund also admitted new investors who wished to invest in EW-AF to gain exposure to Bioventus and the other portfolio companies included in the transaction. In addition to funds managed by BlackRock, EW-AF received commitments from other leading asset managers that regularly provide capital for private equity secondary transactions.

Petri Vainio, Chairman of the Executive Committee of EW, commented, “We are pleased to have such strong support from a syndicate of leading global asset managers led by BlackRock to continue to manage the key remaining assets in our legacy portfolio. We are excited about the growth prospects of these high-quality portfolio companies and look forward to working to create additional value for both our existing and new limited partners.”

Bioventus is the largest holding in EW-AF. EW created Bioventus by leading the spin-off of the Clinical Therapies Division of Smith & Nephew, a large global orthopaedics company, and have helped the company achieve substantial revenue and EBITDA growth since its formation.

Marty Sutter, Co-founder and Chairman of the Investment Committee of EW and the lead investor on the board of directors of Bioventus, noted, “We are excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with Bioventus’ exceptional management team to bring to fruition several of the growth initiatives that the company is currently pursuing.”

Evercore acted as a financial advisor to EW and Kirkland & Ellis acted as legal advisor to EW.

About EW Healthcare Partners

With $4 billion of capital raised since inception, EW Healthcare Partners is one of the largest and oldest dedicated private healthcare investment firms and seeks to make growth equity investments in fast growing healthcare companies primarily in the United States and in Europe. Since its founding in 1985, EW Healthcare Partners has maintained its singularcommitment to the healthcare industry and has been a long-term investor in over 150 healthcare companies, ranging across sectors, stages and geographies. The team is comprised of over 20 senior investment professionals with offices in New York, Houston, Palo Alto, and London. For more information, see www.ewhealthcare.com.

About BlackRock

BlackRock’s purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. As of December 31, 2020, the firm managed approximately $8.68 trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. BlackRock Alternative Investors serve investors seeking outperformance in real estate, infrastructure, credit, hedge funds, alternative solutions, and private equity, which includes BlackRock Secondaries & Liquidity Solutions. We strive to bring our investors the highest quality investments by drawing upon our global footprint, superior execution capabilities and position as a preferred partner. BlackRock manages $259 billion in alternative investments and commitments on behalf of clients worldwide as of December 31, 2020.

About Bioventus

Bioventus delivers clinically proven, cost-effective products that help people heal quickly and safely. Its mission is to make a difference by helping patients resume and enjoy active lives. The Innovations For Active Healing from Bioventus include offerings for osteoarthritis, surgical and non-surgical bone healing. Built on a commitment to high quality standards, evidence-based medicine and strong ethical behavior, Bioventus is a trusted partner for physicians worldwide. For more information, visit www.bioventus.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter.