CAPITAL MARKETS

Dentalcorp bought out in $1.6B take-private

Canada’s largest dental network—and aside from Park Dental, the only publicly-traded DSO—is leaving the public markets.

What happened: Dentalcorp, the 575‑practice giant that logged 5.6 million annual patient visits, agreed to a take‑private by GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm. The all-cash deal values Dentalcorp at C$2.2 billion ($1.6 billion) on an equity value basis, a 33% premium on the company’s closing stock price. Dentalcorp’s founder and CEO Graham Rosenberg and president and CFO Nate Tchaplia are both expected to stay in leadership roles.

Catch up: Dentalcorp was founded in 2011 and had grown to around 90 practices by 2014 when it raised C$121 million to ramp up its Canada-wide roll-up strategy. It went public in 2021 on the Toronto Stock Exchange, an offering the company called “the largest healthcare IPO in Canadian history.”

• Public markets weren’t friendly to Dentalcorp, however. After a brief post-IPO pop, it saw its share price grind down around 40% from its public offering price.

Why it’s happening: Despite its struggle to generate much excitement in the public market, Dentalcorp has run a tight ship as it scaled operations, making it an attractive take-private for private equity (even at a healthy premium). So, how did they do it?

• A repeatable acquisition engine. Dentalcorp built a programmatic M&A model, deploying more than $1 billion for acquisitions since the IPO, with a stated 15%+ return on invested capital (ROIC) target on practice purchases.
  

• A streamlined integration process for new practices. Dentalcorp used a consistent playbook to align new practices’ tech stack and financial systems, team onboarding, marketing, and labor protocols. Management presentations highlight an immediate 10 to 15% practice‑level EBITDA margin uplift from cost synergies and a 10 to 15% expected increase in visit frequency post‑close.
  

• Consumer demand and digital recall. A proprietary demand stack, including hellodent for search and online booking and “dc engage” for digital recall, is cited as driving a ~25% increase in visit frequency after acquisition.
  

• Partner-dentist alignment, not replacement. Dentist partners retain clinical autonomy and, in many cases, take equity with non‑compete and non‑solicit covenants that help align incentives and stabilize revenue. Dentalcorp’s structure centralizes marketing, procurement, revenue cycle, IT, and training, while practices maintain a local identity.

Key takeaways: There are lessons in this deal for DSO leaders building with one eye on a possible acquisition down the road. 

• Be deal-ready on data and ops. Upgrade and streamline your tech stack so that you can centralize revenue cycle management, standardize imaging and charting, and efficiently integrate new practices. It’s good business practice for today and will improve your valuation tomorrow.
  

• Lean into clinical adjacencies. Implants, specialty, and sedation dentistry continue to be growth levers. Platforms that can route cases across general and specialty at scale will see higher same‑practice revenue growth.
  

• Keep equity aligned. Shared ownership remains a powerful retention and integration tool in competitive markets.

Bottom line: GTCR’s move is clear evidence that scaled, tech‑enabled dental platforms with disciplined M&A engines and payer readiness still command real premiums. Expect faster Canadian consolidation, renewed U.S.-Canada knowledge transfer, and a sharper fight for dentists and de novos. The winners will pair clinical excellence with industrial‑grade operations, then let the compounding do the rest.