NEW YORK, NY – January 2, 2024 – Avista Capital Partners (“Avista”), a leading private equity firm focused exclusively on healthcare, today announced that Fred Duchin has joined the firm as a Strategic Executive. Mr. Duchin is the Chairman of WellSpring Consumer Healthcare and recently joined the Board of Directors of Vision Healthcare. Both WellSpring and Vision are current Avista portfolio companies.
Mr. Duchin is a highly established senior executive in the consumer healthcare industry with over 30 years of experience. He most recently served in various senior executive roles at Bayer Consumer Care, including leading Bayer’s North American Over-the-Counter (OTC) portfolio. Prior to Bayer Consumer Care, Mr. Duchin served as the U.S. Head of OTC Marketing for Merck Consumer Care. Mr. Duchin also spent nearly 20 years at Schering Plough as a Vice President and General Manager of various consumer healthcare business units and began his career at Nestle Foods Company and The Quaker Oats Company. Mr. Duchin received a B.A. in Accounting from Franklin & Marshall College, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Avista’s Strategic Executive Group is comprised of healthcare industry leaders from blue-chip companies within Avista’s targeted healthcare sub-sectors. Strategic Executives are fully embedded and aligned with the Avista investment team, providing differentiated perspectives and active oversight of Avista’s portfolio companies and new investment opportunities. Mr. Duchin joins Robert O’Neil as Avista’s second Strategic Executive covering the consumer healthcare sector and will play an integral role in sourcing investment opportunities for Avista and building value in its consumer healthcare investments. Avista’s current consumer healthcare investments include WellSpring Consumer Healthcare, Cooper Consumer Health and Vision Healthcare, and prior investments include Arcadia Consumer Healthcare and Trimb Healthcare.
Alex Yu, Partner at Avista, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Fred, whom we have known for many years in his prior role at Bayer. Fred advised Avista on our platform acquisition of WellSpring Consumer Healthcare and played a critical role in WellSpring’s add-on acquisition of a portfolio of Bayer’s OTC assets. Fred’s experience, industry insight, and strong judgment make him a great fit for our team, and his perspective will be invaluable to Avista.”
Fred Duchin, Strategic Executive at Avista, said, “I have known Avista and their strong reputation within consumer healthcare for many years, and I am excited to join them formally as a Strategic Executive. I believe they are differentiated in their investment approach and I look forward to helping them grow and build exceptional consumer healthcare companies.”
About Avista Capital Partners
Founded in 2005, Avista Capital is a leading New York-based private equity firm with over $8 billion invested in more than 45 growth-oriented healthcare businesses globally. Avista partners with businesses that feature strong management teams, stable cash flows and robust growth prospects – targeting product and technology businesses with clear scale potential across six sub-sectors experiencing strong tailwinds. The team is supported by a group of seasoned Strategic Executives enhancing the entire investment process through strategic insight, operational oversight and senior counsel, which helps drive growth and performance, while fostering sustainable businesses and creating long-term value for all stakeholders. For more information, visit www.avistacap.com.