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PE firm Thurston Group is weighing the sale of Alpha Aesthetics Partners, a California-based medical spa chain that provides aesthetic medical treatments such as Botox injections and chemical skin peels, according to people familiar with the matter.
If successful, the deal would be a milestone in a corner of healthcare where PE firms have struggled to exit after years of consolidation. Alpha could be put on the auction block as soon as 2027, the people said.
Alpha was formed in 2023 and has grown to operate 37 locations nationwide, according to its LinkedIn profile. In January, Manulife Investment Management led a $93 million debt investment in the Sacramento-area business.
PE firms have piled into med spas since the pandemic, drawn by the recurring nature of treatments such as injectables and skin rejuvenation, and by the fact that patients tend to pay up front rather than rely on insurance to cover the cost.
As these investments mature, as many as 25 platform companies are expected to come to market in 2027 and 2028, according to advisers in the space.
Few fully scaled med-spa investments have been successfully exited, leaving a lack of comparable transactions to benchmark against.
LaserAway, a 219-clinic med-spa chain backed by Ares Management and Seidler Equity Partners, hired Harris Williams earlier this year to explore a sale that would have valued it at more than $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sale process is no longer active, they said.
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