Henry Schein takes a 50 per cent stake in Prime Practice

Henry Schein, Inc. has signed an agreement to make a 50% equity investment in practice management consultancy, Prime Practice. Based in Sydney, Prime services customers in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United States and Singapore. The investment will strengthen Henry Schein's practice management services, offering customers new ways to build better dental practices. The transaction includes Practice Sales Search, the Company's Dental Practice Brokerage Firm.

Prime Practice was founded in 1998 by Dr Phillip Palmer and Dr Michael Sernik, along with business partner Anita Roubicek, all of whom will continue to co-manage the company and hold the remaining ownership interest in Prime Practice.

Prime Practice offers dental practitioners and their staff innovative training techniques for optimizing the success of their practice. Through specially-designed educational workshops; onsite coaching and consulting; an online platform for video training; and web-based reporting to measure and monitor results, Prime Practice helps practitioners implement practice management skills and strategies to increase their practice efficiency and productivity. Combined, Prime Practice and Practice Sales Search have 35 employees.

"Henry Schein and Prime Practice share a commitment to helping dental practitioners operate more efficient and successful practices," said Stanley M. Bergman, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc. "The expertise that the Prime Practice management team has in the dental markets it serves, coupled with the global resources and best practices that Henry Schein can offer to this new partnership, represent great news for the future growth of Prime Practice and Practice Sales Search and exciting news for the customers we serve."

Henry Schein's new partnership with Prime Practice will build upon the company's existing practice management services offered in the Australia region through its leading dental distribution business in Australia, Henry Schein Halas, and its leading dental practice management software company, Software of Excellence. Henry Schein expects to further leverage the expertise of its newly combined partnership with Prime Practice and seek opportunities for expanding its offering internationally.

"Henry Schein is the established leader in the global dental marketplace, with a compelling offering of products, technologies and value-added services," said Dr Palmer. "By aligning with Henry Schein, we look forward to accelerating our growth trajectory, further building upon our service offering and leveraging growth opportunities for Practice Sales Search, as the dentist practice brokerage market in Australia is far less developed than it is in other geographies."

Note: Subsequent to the publication of this article, Henry Schein, Inc. did not complete its investment in Prime Practice. Instead, Henry Schein, Inc. and Prime Practice have formed a strategic alliance without the exchange of equity.