GTCR, a private equity firm, announced that it has entered into a partnership with Robert “Chip” Hance to form Regatta Medical Holdings, LLC. The new company, headquartered in Chicago, IL, will focus on acquiring companies and assets in either the products or services areas of the medical device industry as part of a strategy to build a market-leading company in the space. GTCR will invest in Regatta Medical from GTCR Fund XI, a private equity fund with $3.85 billion of equity capital commitments, alongside a substantial investment from Mr. Hance.

Hance is a 30-year veteran of the medical device industry. Prior to partnering with GTCR, Hance most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Creganna Medical, a leading supplier of contract manufacturing services for medical devices. He became CEO of Creganna Medical in 2013 and significantly grew the business via acquisition and organic growth before completing a successful sale of the company in 2016 to TE Connectivity for approximately $895 million. Prior to leading Creganna Medical, Mr. Hance spent more than 20 years in senior leadership roles at Abbott Laboratories, including in its medical devices, diagnostics and diabetes segments. He most recently was President of Abbott’s Vascular division, building it into a global leader in interventional cardiology with more than $3 billion in revenues.

Joining Hance at Regatta will be Mark Weishaar, who most recently served as Vice President of Acquisitions at Abbott Laboratories managing M&A for the device and diagnostic businesses. Weishaar, who has more than 30 years of experience across various business functions in the medical device and diagnostics industries, worked with Hance to help build Abbott’s Vascular division.

“We are excited to partner with Chip to build a leading company in the medical device industry,” said GTCR Managing Director, Dean Mihas. “Chip has an exceptional track record in the medical device space, with experience in both products & services and a history of driving organic & M&A growth. Chip’s background, industry expertise and strategic vision make him an ideal partner as GTCR commits to build another platform in this attractive industry. In conjunction with Mark’s experience and their collective history of successfully building a large business, we see an exceptional opportunity to create value.”

“I am thrilled to partner with GTCR to build Regatta Medical into a market-leading company in the medical device space,” said Mr. Hance. “GTCR has deep domain expertise in healthcare, a great track record of creatively building platforms in this space, and a long history of backing experienced CEOs. With our partnership, Regatta is well-positioned to create a compelling platform in either the product or service areas of the medical device value chain.”

“GTCR’s formation of Regatta Medical with Chip is another excellent example of The Leaders Strategy™ and builds on our history of successful investments in medical devices and the broader healthcare industry,” added Sean Cunningham, Managing Director at GTCR. “We are excited to create this medical device platform behind Chip and are actively looking for companies and assets in the sector, including stand-alone businesses and corporate carve-outs.”