Behind the Deal: PGP’s Robert Aprill Provides Insights on Allergy & Associates of Michigan’s Deal with Parallel ENT & Allergy
Original article in LevinPro HC – Editor Kate Humphrey, Levin Associates
Physician Growth Partners (PGP), a sell-side healthcare investment banking firm dedicated to representing independent physician practices in transactions with private equity, announced that it advised on the acquisition of Allergy & Asthma Associates of Michigan by Parallel ENT & Allergy.
Allergy & Asthma Associates of Michigan is an allergy practice with three locations in Michigan: Royal Oak, Sterling Heights and Livonia. According to its website, there are four physicians on staff, who are supported by a team of seven physician’s assistants.
Launched in July 2022, Parallel ENT & Allergy Partners is backed by Trinity Hunt Partners, a growth-oriented private equity firm with deep healthcare experience. Parallel is a management services organization (MSO) for ear, nose and throat (ENT) and allergy practices. Parallel supports more than 90 providers and more than 443 employees across 19 locations in five states.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, there were 476 Physician Medical Group (PMG) transactions announced in 2024, and 12 in the ENT specialty. So far, in 2025, there have been 20 PMG deals and no ENT acquisitions.
The LevinPro HC team spoke with Robert Aprill, Partner at PGP, about PGP’s role in the transaction and the broader trends shaping the ENT M&A market. According to Aprill, it was a strategic transaction for Parallel, as it pushed the MSO into new markets. The transaction was announced towards the end of 2024.
“Parallel wanted to build density in certain markets. Michigan being one of their ideal markets,” said Aprill. “They were in Grand Rapids on the west side of the state, so this transaction presented an opportunity for them to move to the east side of the state, in the Detroit MSA.”
Parallel offered Allergy & Asthma Associates of Michigan a unique opportunity. Aprill highlighted that this would be Parallel’s first ‘pure allergy’ practice in its network, which made the partnership especially exciting for the doctors. It gave them a greater voice within Parallel, particularly when it came to future growth. This distinction set Parallel apart from other buyers.
Initially, Allergy & Asthma Associates of Michigan had been in discussions with another buyer, but Aprill noted they weren’t a perfect fit. Aprill was able to expand upon Parallel’s choice to focus on allergy, instead of just ear, nose & throat (ENT), and what this may mean for the market going forward.
“It shows that a lot of these ENT platforms are starting to look at allergy as a good adjacent service line to some of the ENT platforms they’ve built,” he said. “Historically, most of the consolidation within the space has been on two sides of the fence. You’ve had purely allergy platforms like Allergy Partners that have been consolidating practices for years. Then you have ENT platforms Parallel that are focused on ENT doctors. I think this shows that there’s a way for ENT platforms to be a great partner to allergy practices.”
This comes as no surprise, given the significant rise in allergies (especially in children) in recent years. For investors, hopping on the allergy wave may be a promising opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Aprill also spoke about the future of the PMG and ENT markets. He noted that PGP, overall, is bullish about the deal volume in 2025. He said that there has been a lot of doubling down on platforms across the ENT space (and in the PMG market, in general) to make add on acquisitions.
However, Aprill also said, “But it’s not an overcrowded market when it comes to platforms, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one or two new platforms pop up.”
To add to the believe that 2025 will see a fair amount of M&A activity, Aprill addressed valuations, noting that they are slightly higher than they were towards the start of 2024.
“It’s still below the transaction levels we saw a couple of years ago but, multiples haven’t fully returned to where they were in 2021 or 2022. That said, there has been some recovery since the dip in 2023, which was largely driven by the challenging interest rate environment,” he said. “For the majority of the market, we’re seeing multiples in the high single digits to low double digits.”
Between the numerous add on acquisitions, possibility for emerging platforms and strong valuation multiples, 2025 is poised to be filled with lots of ENT M&A activity.
Are you a journalist covering trends in Healthcare Services M&A? Reach out to our team at PGP for additional insights on the market: [email protected]
