Private Equity Group Buys Wellness Network

The Wellness Network, a group of  in-hospital channels available in more than 2,000 hospitals and on 300,000 screens, has been sold by owners Matthew Davidge and Joe Covey to an entity formed by clients of private equity firm Wafra Partners LLC.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Davidge and Joe Covey purchased The Wellness Network from NBC in 2010. Its channels include The Patient Channel, The Newborn Channel, Your NICU Baby, The HeartCare Channel and MedSerenity Channel.

“The Wellness Network has made great strides under our ownership to become the preeminent hospital patient education business,” Covey said in a statement. “I’d like to thank the Wellness Network employees for their hard work and accomplishments over the past five years.”

Davidge and Covey have made eight acquisitions since 2008, including the Mag Rack TV network from Cablevision and The Wellness Network. In a statement, Covey and Davidge said they plan to focus on new opportunities in television and new media.

"We are ready to find new media assets where we can add capital and hands-on management," Davidge said in a statement.  “We are particularly interested in television as these are challenging and disruptive times for that industry.”

Berkery Noyes & Co, LLC represented the sellers in this transaction.