Linden LLC

Linden Enters Behavioral Healthcare Industry With Behavioral Centers of America Investment

July 17, 2007 | For Immediate Release

BCA Distinguished By an Experienced and Successful Team in Behavioral Healthcare

Chicago, Illinois (July 17, 2007) – Linden LLC, a Chicago-based private investment firm that focuses on middle market leveraged buyout investments in the healthcare and life science sectors, today announced its investment in Behavioral Centers of America (BCA), a growing healthcare company that is committed to the single specialty of behavioral healthcare.

Headquartered in Nashville, BCA owns and operates inpatient and outpatient facilities in six locations in Ohio and Texas, primarily focused on adolescent and geriatric adult populations. BCA’s facilities include freestanding psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment centers, psychiatric specialty hospitals within medical-surgical hospitals, and psychiatric outpatient clinics. With over 260 employees, and all of its facilities accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, BCA provides exceptional behavioral healthcare to patients and support to patients’ families.

BCA’s senior management team, which has prior success in building and running behavioral healthcare businesses, will be headed by Chief Executive Officer Edward A. Stack. Additionally, the executive team includes Dr. Zyama Goldman, M.D., BCA’s Chairman, Chief Medical Officer, and Founder, and Michael Davis, Chief Financial Officer. Combined, the team has over 90 years of successfully building and operating behavioral healthcare organizations.

Eric Larson, Managing Partner and Founder of Linden, said, “Ed and his team have done an outstanding job of building BCA into a provider of high-quality psychiatric care, and we look forward to working with Ed and his management team to deliver this high-quality patient services to a wider range of patients in more markets.”

Mr. Stack previously founded and built Behavioral Healthcare Corporation, starting with the acquisition of six hospitals from Hospital Corporation of America. He helped to grow BHC to 48 hospitals in 22 states and Puerto Rico that formed the platform for Ardent Health Services, which eventually sold its psychiatric hospitals in 2005 to Psychiatric Solutions.

Mr. Stack, said, “We are very proud of the organization we have built and the reputation we have developed as a provider of distinct and effective care of behavioral health patients. We look forward to working together with our new partners at Linden to further expand our services, including youth programs and adult and geriatric psychiatry programs.”

Avondale Partners, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor to BCA on this transaction.