Cornell Capital and Trilantic North America to Acquire Fastaff and U.S. Nursing

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Cornell Capital LLC ("Cornell Capital") and Trilantic North America, two leading private investment firms, today announced that they have agreed to acquire Fastaff Travel Nursing® ("Fastaff") and U.S. Nursing Corporation® ("U.S. Nursing"). 

This acquisition is part of a broader effort by Cornell Capital and Trilantic North America to build a leading tech-enabled platform for healthcare staffing, following three other recently announced acquisitions in the space: trustaff Management, Inc. ("trustaff"), a leading provider of traditional travel nurse and allied healthcare staffing services; CardioSolution, a managed services offering providing cardiologists and support personnel to hospitals; and Stella.ai, Inc. ("Stella"), an AI-driven online marketplace for employers and job seekers that brings cutting-edge technology expertise to the staffing sector. With the addition of Fastaff and U.S. Nursing, the combined company will create an industry-first platform, leveraging data science and automation to meet client needs across traditional nurse staffing, rapid response, strike preparedness and job action services to accelerate growth.

Founded in 1989, Fastaff and U.S. Nursing have provided hospitals with staffing solutions for more than three decades. Fastaff pioneered the practice of Rapid Response℠ travel nurse staffing and has since grown to become the leading provider of temporary nurses to help hospitals provide continuous, high-quality patient care in urgent and crucial situations nationwide. U.S. Nursing is the largest provider of strike preparedness and job action staffing services for hospitals with unionized workforces. Together, Fastaff and U.S. Nursing partner with many of the nation's largest and most prestigious healthcare facilities, as well as small community hospitals, using a scalable, centralized infrastructure and shared technology.

"We are excited to add Fastaff and U.S. Nursing to further diversify our innovative healthcare staffing platform, whose enhanced technology and AI will help drive future growth," said Stephen Trevor, Partner of Cornell Capital, and Jeremy Lynch, Partner of Trilantic North America. "We have been impressed by the performance of Fastaff and U.S. Nursing for their health system customers both prior to and during the global pandemic. With each company's track record of execution and deep hospital relationships, we look forward to partnering together as we continue to build an industry-leading organization and grow this platform organically, geographically and through additional acquisitions."  

Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. ("THL"), current owners of Fastaff and U.S. Nursing, will remain investors in the combined company.

"We invested in Fastaff and U.S. Nursing in 2015 with a thesis behind the increasingly mission-critical nature of their urgent and crucial staffing services to their hospital partners," said Megan Preiner, Managing Director at THL. "During the global pandemic, the importance of these services has only been amplified, and these two brands have been able to consistently deliver nurses to their customers during these times of unprecedented demand. We are excited to remain partnered with the Fastaff and U.S. Nursing teams in this next evolution as the combined new entity will allow for continued efficiency and automation of the nurse staffing experience for their customers."

"For more than three decades, Fastaff has been a premier provider of Rapid Response℠ travel nurse staffing, and U.S. Nursing has been the industry leader in comprehensive job action consulting and staffing solutions," said Bart Valdez, Fastaff and U.S. Nursing CEO. "Our team has the utmost confidence that partnering with Cornell Capital and Trilantic North America will help us build on our unique market position delivering experienced nurses for urgent hospital needs. Bringing the capabilities of our two brands to this larger platform will accelerate organic growth, allow for greater product and service innovation, and position the combined company to help meet the nation's expanding healthcare staffing needs."

"Combining Fastaff and U.S. Nursing to our recent acquisitions of trustaff and CardioSolution on one platform will increase the scale and diversity of staffing opportunities we can deliver to both clients and healthcare professionals," said Adam Zoia, who has been named CEO of the combined company. "I look forward to applying superior technology to these best-in-class businesses and teams to strengthen their brands and accelerate growth at this critical moment for the industry across our country."

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close in March 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is acting as legal advisor to Cornell Capital. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal advisor to Trilantic North America. Lincoln International is acting as financial advisor to Fastaff and U.S. Nursing, and Ropes & Gray LLP is acting as legal advisor.

About Cornell Capital
Cornell Capital LLC is a U.S.-based private investment firm with over $4.0 billion of AUM and offices in New York and Hong Kong. Partnering with strong, entrepreneurial management teams, the firm takes a value-oriented approach to investing across the consumer, financial and industrial sectors. Founder and Senior Partner Henry Cornell, who served as the Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs' Merchant Banking Division prior to founding Cornell Capital in 2013, leads a highly-seasoned senior leadership team with decades of shared investing experience. For more information, visit www.cornellcapllc.com.

About Trilantic North America
Trilantic Capital Management L.P. ("Trilantic North America") is a private equity firm focused on control and significant minority investments in North America. Trilantic North America's primary investment focus is in the business services, consumer and energy sectors. Trilantic North America has managed six private equity fund families with aggregate capital commitments of $9.7 billion. Trilantic North America has been recognized by Inc. Magazine's 2019 list of Top 50 Founder-Friendly Private Equity Firms. For more information, visit www.trilanticnorthamerica.com.

About Fastaff Travel Nursing®
Over 30 years ago, Fastaff pioneered the practice of Rapid Response℠ travel nurse staffing. Since then, the company has grown to become the leading crisis provider of experienced nurses to hospitals experiencing urgent and crucial situations nationwide.  With a guaranteed delivery in ten days or less, and often in 24-48 hours, Fastaff is recognized as the most reliable partner to ensure uninterrupted high-quality patient care in hospitals, healthcare systems and communities facing turbulent times.  Fastaff provides enriching employment opportunities to nurses while also providing the highest pay in the industry to meet acute staffing needs and provide unparalleled patient care. Visit www.fastaff.com for more information and connect with Fastaff on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About U.S. Nursing
Since 1989, U.S. Nursing has been working with healthcare facilities and nursing professionals to provide comprehensive staffing solutions during labor disputes. U.S. Nursing has staffed or helped avert many of the largest healthcare labor disputes nationwide, and is the pioneer and industry leader for comprehensive services throughout strike preparation and implementation. When facing an organized labor strike, U.S. Nursing helps facilities negotiate from a position of strength. In the event of a job action, U.S. Nursing will provide a core group of proven and experienced healthcare professionals who can hit the ground running to ensure continuous, quality patient care. Visit www.usnursing.com for more information.

About Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. ("THL") is a premier private equity firm investing in middle market growth companies, headquartered primarily in North America, exclusively in three sectors: Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. We couple our deep sector expertise with dedicated internal operating resources to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. Our domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, we have raised more than $25 billion of equity capital, invested in over 150 companies and completed more than 400 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $200 billion. For more information on THL, please visit THL.com.

Media Contacts

Cornell Capital
Julie Hamilton / Tim Ragones / Kate Thompson
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

Trilantic North America
Mariel Seidman-Gati
646-818-9013
[email protected]

Thomas H. Lee Partners
Natalie Short
Edelman
310-425-9917
[email protected]

SOURCE Cornell Capital LLC