“GE Capital’s HFS business provided more than $10.5 billion in financing to customers across more than 240 transactions in 2014, an increase of 20% percent from the prior year.”

For the third consecutive year, GE Capital was the No. 1 lead arranger for healthcare financings up to $1 billion in size, according to Thompson Reuters.

HFS is active across 45 healthcare segments — including senior housing, outpatient services, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, hospitals and medical offices, and life sciences — financing acquisitions, refinancing existing debt, supporting working capital needs and funding early-stage commercialization efforts.

Tough deals - aggressive structures

Al Aria, senior managing director for GE Capital, HFS’ corporate finance team added:  “Although the leveraged loan market was significantly altered in 2014 by a transformed regulatory environment, we had one of our most active years.

“We supported our customers in 2014 by deploying nearly $7 billion in commitments despite the choppiness in the leveraged loan and high yield markets. Deals in certain healthcare sectors with appropriate structures experienced very strong demand at historically low yields. Tougher deals with more aggressive structures required higher pricing and changes to their structures.

“We also saw record M&A activity in 2014 — the highest level since 2007 — driven primarily by corporate-to-corporate deals.”

Aria explained that in May 2014, HFS served as administrative agent on a $207 million senior secured credit facility to finance Harvest Partners’ acquisition of Athletico Physical Therapy, an Oak Brook, IL-based provider of outsourced rehabilitation services with a focus on sports injuries and therapies.

Later, in December 2014, HFS served as administrative agent on a $465 million senior secured credit facility to refinance Athletico’s existing debt and to finance the acquisition of Accelerated Rehabilitation Centers, which has a network of more than 300 outpatient rehabilitation centers throughout the Midwest and Arizona.

Life Science finance accelerates

Brett Haring, senior managing director of GE Capital, Healthcare Financial Services, life science finance business added that the life sciences segment of HFS realized 25% year-over-year growth in total venture loan deal volume between 2014 and 2013. The team focuses on customers in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, healthcare IT and medical device sectors with an emphasis on personalized medicine and molecular diagnosis.

“Last year was a strong one in both the public and private equity markets,” Haring said. “We accelerated our growth along with that of our many customers and we plan to continue to support existing and new customers in 2015.”

He added that in May, HFS served as administrative agent on a $25 million credit facility for Assurex Health, a pioneer in pharmacogenomics based in Mason, OH. Assurex was planning to use the funds to help develop the emerging personalized neuropsychiatric medicine market.