Aurora Diagnostics

Aurora Diagnostics to Build Premier National Diagnostics Business
October 13, 2006



Aurora Diagnostics, an anatomic pathology laboratory business, formed by Jim New, Summit Partners, and GSO Capital Partners


Palm Beach Gardens, FL — Aurora Diagnostics, LLC today announced its formation as a national platform for the acquisition and integration of anatomic pathology and other diagnostic laboratory businesses.

Aurora Diagnostics has received a significant commitment of equity and debt from Summit Partners, a $9 billion private equity and venture capital firm headquartered in Boston, and funds managed by GSO Capital Partners LP, a New York-based investment advisor managing in excess of $4.5 billion in assets. Aurora Diagnostics is using this capital to acquire complementary laboratory businesses across the United States. Aurora Diagnostics started operations in July 2006 and has signed five letters of intent for laboratory acquisitions, with two transactions closed and the others to follow by December.

Aurora Diagnostics is managed by a team of experienced industry executives, including James New, formerly CEO of AmeriPath, Inc., and Martin Stefanelli, formerly COO of AmeriPath and a senior executive with DIANON. AmeriPath was a Summit Partners portfolio company. New and Stefanelli are joined by two additional co-founders, Chris Jahnle and Kirk Rebane, both co-founders and principals of Haverford Healthcare Advisors, an investment banking firm with a specialization in laboratories. The co-founders and management team are significant equity holders in Aurora.

Aurora Diagnostics provides liquidity, financial upside, administrative resources, and accelerated growth opportunities to pathology lab owners while allowing them to maintain their entrepreneurial approach and operational independence. Aurora Diagnostics also provides a bundle of services to help lab owners perform their core business more efficiently and effectively. These services include sales and marketing, technology, accounting and tax, risk management, managed care contracts, and follow-on acquisitions.

“Aurora is pleased to have the full power and resources of Summit Partners and GSO Capital Partners behind it. They are providing capital, sophisticated board-level guidance, and a network of industry contacts” said James New, Chairman and CEO of Aurora Diagnostics.

“Aurora has an outstanding management team with the vision to capitalize on the growing demand for anatomic pathology services across the country and the increasingly complex diagnostic services demanded by physicians and patients,” said Thomas S. Roberts, Managing Partner at Summit Partners, who is serving on Aurora’s Board of Directors. Christopher J. Dean, General Partner, and Peter J. Connolly, Vice President, both at Summit Partners and Wesley W. Lang Jr., Managing Director at GSO Capital Partners LP, will also join Aurora’s Board of Directors.

About Aurora Diagnostics, LLC
Aurora Diagnostics, LLC, of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, is an anatomic pathology laboratory company. The company was founded in 2006 as a platform for the acquisition and integration of anatomic pathology and other diagnostic laboratory businesses. Aurora Diagnostics provides liquidity, financial upside, administrative resources, and accelerated growth opportunities to pathology lab owners while allowing them to maintain their entrepreneurial approach and operational independence. The company also provides a bundle of services to help lab owners perform their core business more efficiently and effectively.

About Summit Partners
Summit Partners is a private equity and venture capital firm with offices in Boston, Palo Alto, and London. Formed in 1984, the firm has raised nearly $9 billion in capital in its private equity, venture capital, and subordinated debt funds. Summit has provided growth equity, recapitalization, and leveraged buyout financing to more than 280 companies, which have completed more than 100 public offerings and in excess of 100 strategic mergers or sales.

Summit Partners seeks outstanding management teams that have self-financed their companies to profitability and market leadership in a broad range of growth industries. Previous notable Summit investments in the healthcare sector include American Dental Partners, AmeriPath, Clinical Pathology Laboratories, Lincare, and Nighthawk Radiology.


The business of Summit Partners in the UK is regulated by the Financial Services Authority. In the U.S., Summit Partners operates as an SEC-registered investment adviser. This document is intended solely to provide information regarding Summit Partners' potential financing capabilities for prospective portfolio companies.

                                          #####