Netsmart Technologies and Genstar Capital Announce Investor Partnership

GREAT RIVER, N.Y., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Netsmart Technologies, a leading provider of software and services for health and human services organizations, today announced an agreement with Genstar Capital, LLC, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. Genstar will provide the capital and strategic healthcare expertise to help Netsmart manage continued growth and expand its solutions to meet the needs of its customers in an increasingly complex industry environment. Genstar's investment focus includes selected segments of the software, healthcare services, life sciences, financial services, and industrial technology industries.

Netsmart provides software as a service (SaaS), self-hosted software solutions and project implementation services to more than 18,000 customer organizations in all 50 states, including 350,000 care providers and 40 state-level mental health systems. Netsmart customers include mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, intellectual and developmental disabilities organizations, vital records offices and managed care organizations.

"The additional capital resources and strategic healthcare experience on our board of directors provided by Genstar will help us further invest in and expand R&D, professional services and other key areas as we develop solutions to meet fast-evolving industry requirements," said James L. Conway, chief executive officer, Netsmart Technologies. "This includes helping our customers meet the criteria for Meaningful Use funding so they qualify for the billions of dollars in Medicaid and Medicare incentive funds available over the next several years."

The partnership with Genstar builds on Netsmart's existing strong foundation as the company continues to focus on creating long-term value for its customers.

"We are impressed with Netsmart's industry leadership, breadth of solutions and large, active customer community," said Mark Hanson, managing director, Genstar Capital. "The capital investment required to meet ARRA certification and other Meaningful Use requirements will lead to vendor consolidation in behavioral health similar to the provider consolidation already occurring. With Genstar's long-term investment and commitment, Netsmart will be well-positioned to continue to lead that trend with the organic and acquisition-based growth required to help it meet market and customer needs."

Genstar will support Netsmart's continued involvement in key industry issues on behalf of its customers. Examples include Netsmart's leadership role advocating corrective legislation to extend eligibility for Meaningful Use incentives to additional behavioral health providers and professionals; and joining behavioral health industry associations and providers to oppose significant funding cuts for mental health services in California.

Netsmart's previous equity partners were New York-based Insight Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Salmon River Capital.

"We were pleased to help Netsmart achieve above-market growth rates over the last three years, invest in Meaningful Use, and lead industry efforts to include behavioral health as eligible for Meaningful Use incentive funds," said Larry Handen, managing director, Insight Venture Partners.

"As a longtime customer, we value Netsmart's combination of corporate stability, innovation, deep software functionality, staff expertise, and long-term commitment to its customers and their needs," said M. Joseph Rocks, chairman and chief executive officer of NHS Human Services, one of the nation's largest non-profit human service providers. "Based on their past track record, we're confident they will utilize Genstar's capital and long-term vision to continue to grow as a customer-focused technology partner and as the vendor best equipped to help its customers be successful in their missions to provide quality care."

William Blair & Company acted as exclusive financial advisor to Netsmart Technologies in this transaction.

About Genstar Capital, LLC

Genstar Capital (www.gencap.com) is a leading private equity firm that has been actively investing in high quality companies for more than 20 years. Based in San Francisco, Genstar works in partnership with its management teams and its network of operating executives and strategic advisors to transform its portfolio companies into industry-leading businesses. Genstar has more than US$3 billion of committed capital under management and targets investments focused on selected sectors within the software, healthcare services, life sciences, financial services, and industrial technology industries.

About Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

Netsmart Technologies (www.ntst.com) is an established, leading supplier of enterprise software and software as a service (SaaS) solutions for health and human services providers. More than 18,000 customer organizations, including 350,000 care providers and 40 state systems, use Netsmart products to help improve the quality of life for millions of people each year.

Netsmart customers include mental health and substance abuse treatment agencies, psychiatric hospitals, private and group mental health practices, public health departments, intellectual and developmental disabilities organizations, vital records offices and managed care organizations. Netsmart's products are full-featured information systems that operate on a variety of operating systems, hardware platforms, and mobile devices, and offer unlimited scalability.

Netsmart provides expertise and solutions that help its customers meet the evolving definition of "meaningful use" under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. These include experience in electronic health record certification, the InfoScriber™ e-prescribing service, the Netsmart CareConnect™ service that enables the sharing of clinical information through health information exchanges, the Netsmart ConsumerConnect™ Web portal to provide consumer access to their care information, and a flexible platform to capture and share outcomes data.

Netsmart's Connected Care initiative allows behavioral and public healthcare providers to share clinical data electronically within their internal processes, externally with other providers, and with consumers via a Web-based portal, enabling high quality, consumer-directed care.

For information about Netsmart Technologies' full range of solutions for health and human services organizations, visit www.ntst.com or call 1-800-421-7503, Option 6.

InfoScriber, Netsmart CareConnect and Netsmart ConsumerConnect are trademarks of Netsmart Technologies, Inc.

SOURCE Netsmart Technologies, Inc.