A Chicago-based billionaire has been buying small business properties across the country, with plans to consolidate many of them into larger chains.

In a recent Forbes profile, Justin Ishbia, founding partner of Shore Capital Partners, said some of those properties are in Birmingham, Alabama, and will likely remain in Birmingham.

“We're buying businesses in Akron, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Birmingham, Alabama,” Ishbia said. “To me, there's something easier to get, and that's Joe Schmo on Main Street.”

“We're just buying, buying, buying.”

Ishbia's private equity firm has acquired more than 1,000 “mom and pop” stores across the country for an average of $15 million since it was founded in 2009. It has created 61 large chains from the businesses it has acquired, including an autism clinic, a bakery and a pest control company.

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Ishbia's success has been noted by many Alabama business leaders and companies, and those who have worked with Shore Capital Partners have given him high praise.

This vet clinic business is insane. I thought I was going to go bankrupt on this investment. I had no idea what I was doing. These guys have grown a vet clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, started by another law school classmate, from $6 million to over $5 billion. It's unbelievable.

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) April 9, 2024

From Forbes MagazineIn 2014, Ishbia's venture in Alabama coincided with an industry trend that continues to benefit him today.

That was around the time veterinarian Jay Price first heard of Justin Ishbia. Price was running three practices in Alabama when a college friend called him and suggested he talk to a friend from law school who ran a private equity firm and was looking to buy them. “I didn't really know what private equity was,” Price says. “I was like, 'You guys can come, but I'm not really interested.'” At the time, the veterinary industry, traditionally fragmented and dominated by small operations, was beginning to consolidate. Shortly after that meeting, Price read about National Veterinary Associates being sold to private equity giant Ares Management and agreed to sell a majority stake in his own firm, Southern Veterinary Partners, to Shore for $6 million (enterprise value).

Shore Capital Partners closed 801 deals between 2020 and 2023. During that period, the firm's assets soared to $7 billion. The firm represents big investors such as the University of Notre Dame and Sequoia Capital.

Shore's average internal rate of return on 14 exits, all in the health care sector, was 53% after fees, nearly three times the average net internal rate of return for U.S. buyout funds raised since 2009, according to data from Cambridge Associates.

Austin Shipley is a staff writer for Yellow Hammer News.