Secomerica Plans to Buy 55% Stake in Care Visions
Secomerica Inc. said Wednesday that it has tentatively agreed to acquire a majority interest in Care Visions Corp., a Santa Ana-based pediatric health firm that provides services for medically dependent children through its Kangaroo Kids center.
Under the proposed transaction, Secomerica will pay about $2.8 million for 55% of the shares of Care Visions Corp., which also provides home nursing and home infusion therapy to about 100 children throughout Southern California.
Secomerica President and Chief Executive Officer Michael S. Kaye said the deal will mean the development of other Kangaroo Kids centers in major cities throughout the nation. The company plans to spend several million dollars for expansion over the next three years.
Care Visions’s Kangaroo Kids Center for Fragile Children is part of a comprehensive care center in Santa Ana that includes a home-like pediatric day-care facility. The center has room for up to 35 patients ranging from newborns to teen-agers.
Newport Beach-based Secomerica, one of the nation’s leading providers of in-home intravenous therapy and medical care, is a privately held subsidiary of Tokyo-based Secom Co. Ltd., a security and diversified services company with revenue of more than $1 billion.
Kaye said Care Visions’ pediatric home infusion therapy business will fit well with Secomerica’s Home Medical Support Services division in Houston, which provides similar therapy to adults and children nationwide.
“We are clearly looking for HMSS to do infusion therapy work for Care Visions,” he said.
Kaye said he was impressed by Care Visions’ approach to providing more cost effective medicine for children with a broad spectrum of alternatives to hospitalization.
“There is a problem in this country of escalating health care costs, and one of the fastest climbing areas deals with medically dependent children,” Kaye said. “The only way to get our arms around these problems is to be creative in our solutions, and I think Care Visions has done that.”
Julia Bell, an attorney who is founder and chief executive officer of Care Visions, said the Kangaroo Kids center was designed to “offer parents all services in one place and to give the children a life, too.”
She said children who are chronically disabled because of premature birth or traumatic injuries--and who otherwise would remain isolated in their homes--have a chance to get treatment and rehabilitation in a group setting at the center.
“We had discussions with other health providers, including some in the home infusion therapy business,” Bell said. “We went with Secomerica because of their established commitment to quality and their long-term view of the needs of the health care industry. With Secomerica’s help, we plan to open more centers in major markets in the next few years.”
The sale is expected to be completed within the next three months. The portion that Secomerica does not acquire will continue to be held by Care Visions’ founders, founding investors, employees and consultants.
