The Stepping Stones Group acquires Behavioral Learning Center

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Nov 15, 2021, 08:00 ET

BOSTON, Nov. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Stepping Stones Group (Stepping Stones), a premier, national provider of therapeutic, behavioral, autism, nursing and educational services to children in school, home and community settings, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Behavioral Learning Center (BLC), a California-based therapeutic and behavioral company.

"This acquisition enhances our ability to transform the lives of children and adolescents with a diagnosis on the Autism Spectrum in the home, school and community settings. Danielle Sheehy, Jody Stiegemeyer and their teams have grown BLC into a leading, high quality Autism Services Provider in California and Colorado and we are delighted to have them join our team," stated Tim Murphy, the Chief Executive Officer of The Stepping Stones Group.

"We immediately knew partnering with The Stepping Stones Group was the right step for us to become part of a larger Autism and Community platform with the infrastructure to allow us to reach our goal of delivering early intervention and applied behavioral analysis services to increase the quality of life of more children and families across the nation," said Jody Stiegemeyer, SLP, BCBA, co-founder of Behavior Learning Center.

"We are thrilled to start this next step of our journey with a highly reputable, like-minded organization that is mission-driven, committed to clinical excellence and truly cares about its team," remarked Danielle Sheehy, MS BCBA, co-founder of Behavior Learning Center.

BLC will operate as part of SSG's Autism and Community business unit. Jody Stiegemeyer and Danielle Sheehy will remain with the company and serve as Executive Clinical Directors overseeing BLC's operations. They both will report to Doug Moes, Ph.D., President of Autism & Community unit.

Stepping Stones is a portfolio company of Five Arrows Capital Partners, the North American corporate private equity business of Rothschild & Co. Merchant Banking.

"Five Arrows Capital Partners continues to support Stepping Stones' management team acquisitive growth strategy as they expand the company's autism and community practice and service offerings to deliver critical developmental services to children and adolescents to meet the needs of more clients, families and communities," remarked Michael Langer, Partner at Five Arrows Capital Partners.

The Braff Group, a leading mergers and acquisitions firm, represented Behavioral Learning Center in this transaction.

About The Stepping Stones Group
The Stepping Stones Group is a leading provider of therapeutic and behavioral services to children including those with special needs and autism. The company serves over 1,000 clients and 200,000 children annually across 42 states. With over 30 years of experience, our team consists of over 7,000 employees including licensed clinicians and special educators, dedicated to delivering high-quality therapeutic and behavioral services. For more information: https://thesteppingstonesgroup.com/.

About Five Arrows Capital Partners
Five Arrows Capital Partners (FACP) is the North American corporate private equity arm of Rothschild & Co's Merchant Banking business. Merchant Banking manages over $18 billion which includes approximately $4.5 billion dedicated to corporate private equity, as well as a series of funds focused on senior and junior credits, primary and secondary fund investing and co-investments, with offices in Paris, London, New York, Los Angeles and Luxembourg.

FACP is focused on investing in middle-market companies with highly defensible market positions; strong management teams; business models with high visibility of organic unit volume growth and strong free cash flow conversion; and multiple operational levers that can be used to unlock latent value. Sectors are limited to data and software, technology-enabled business services and healthcare.

For more information:
https://www.rothschildandco.com/en/merchant-banking/corporate-private-equity/.

About Behavioral Learning Center
Founded in 2007, Behavioral Learning Center provides home-based early intervention and autism related services in the home, school and community setting. For more information on Behavioral Learning Center: https://www.blcca.com/

SOURCE The Stepping Stones Group