Stephenson Harwood has advised Acadia Healthcare on the acquisition of Priory Group, a leading provider of behavioural healthcare facilities in the United Kingdom.

Priory is a leading independent provider of behavioural healthcare services in the United Kingdom, operating 322 inpatient behavioural health facilities with over 7,000 beds. In addition, Priory is one of the few independent providers in the United Kingdom offering the full spectrum of mental health services, primarily focused on the treatment of patients with a variety of psychiatric conditions which are treated in both open and secure environments, as well as neuro-rehabilitation services.

Acadia is a provider of inpatient behavioural healthcare services in the US, UK and Puerto Rico.

The acquisition was signed on 31 December 2015 and is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2016. Acadia aims to finance the transaction with a combination of equity and long term debt financing. Acadia has received a commitment from Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Jefferies regarding the debt financing of the transaction.

In 2014, Stephenson Harwood advised Acadia on its US$662 million acquisition of Partnerships in Care (PiC), one of the largest providers of specialist, secure and step-down care across the UK.

The Stephenson Harwood team comprised partners Andrew Edge and Andrew McLean (corporate), Karima Hudson (healthcare), Marta Garcia (competition), Simon Brading (real estate), Anne Pritam (employment), Barbara Allen (employee benefits) and Jayesh Patel (finance). The team were supported by associates Tom Finden, Kate Hewitson, Ian Pumfrey, Bianca D'Angelo (corporate), Stewart Scott (real estate), Sean Crowley, Hannah Garbett and George Vaughton (finance) and Beth Hale, Hayley Reid and Anika Chandra (employment and employee benefits). Jay Nixon and Rob Harris from Nashville-headquartered Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis LLP acted for long-term client Acadia in relation to its financing of the transaction. Adrian Maguire from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Advent, and DLA Piper advised Priory Group in relation to real estate matters and for management. Davis Polk acted for Jefferies and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.